


To Her Heart's Content

by Olofa



Series: Her Heart [6]
Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Angst, Anna isn't evil, Elsanna - Freeform, F/F, Heartache, No Guarantees - Freeform, Romance, She's troubled, Sibling Incest, Smut, elsingrid, her heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2018-04-12
Packaged: 2019-01-06 11:56:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 34,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12210813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Olofa/pseuds/Olofa
Summary: Elsanna in her bed, Elsingrid on her conscience. Anna needed to feel loved, and Elsa was there for her. Now she's achieved the consummation she's devoutly wished for. Unfortunately, it was shortly after realizing how much she loves Ingrid. Now Elsa has to decide who to hurt. Unless something comes up that threatens all of them.





	1. A New Day

Elsa stood behind her chair at the breakfast table in The Studio. The north light gave everything a warm glow. She leaned on the chair-back, her fingers tracing and retracing the patterns carved there, trying and failing to stop herself pivoting back and forth. Her nervousness had spread to Nils and Helga, waiting to serve.

"I'm sure Anna will be here any minute, Your Majesty," said Nils.

"I'm sure she's fine," added Helga.

But that wasn't what had Elsa fidgeting. From the moment she awoke that morning, she had been unsettled, worrying about where she stood with Anna and with Ingrid.

Ingrid, thank God, had been her sweet, supportive self that morning, helping Elsa to choose an outfit and dress. Ingrid had pushed – gently, of course – for something soft and form-fitting, but Elsa had chosen a purple dress with a heavy bodice. Until she knew where she stood with Anna, Elsa didn't want her bosom telegraphing her feelings.

Was Anna having second thoughts? Regrets? By the light of day, would she be ashamed of what they had done? Feeling dirty, or angry, or guilty? Would she want to talk it out, or forget it never happened?

The dress had been an awkward choice. Elsa's skin was only relatively cool. Anxious as she was, she was more than able to make herself uncomfortably warm. She brushed a cool breeze against herself, hoping it wasn't too obvious.

Outside the door, Anna reached for the door-handle. Then stopped. She dried her palms on her skirt, the sunflower-bordered one, the one Elsa had conjured for her birthday a couple of years previous. She turned away, and leaned her back against the wall. Forcing a smile on her face, she turned to the door.

Finally the door opened, and Anna walked gingerly into the room. Elsa lunged towards her, stopped herself, then hurried into Anna's arms. As they hugged, Anna whispered into her ear, "You still love me, right?"

"What?" Elsa stepped back, holding Anna at arm's length. "How can you ask that? Of course I love you. I love you more than ever." She hugged Anna again, even more firmly, as Anna hugged her back.

"It's just, after last night…" Anna whispered in Elsa's ear.

"What is it?" Elsa murmured back.

There was so much she wanted to say, to ask, thoughts tumbling through her brain. But even if she could put them into words, she couldn't say them in front of Nils and Helga. She was even afraid to ask them to leave, for fear of making them suspicious. But poor Elsa, still in her arms, eyes filled with worry.

Under cover of hugging Elsa again, she whispered, "I don't have a great track record with falling in love with people."

Elsa whispered back, "Records are made to be broken. I love you, and I'd never hurt you. You're my Anna."

"Thanks. I love you too." Anna leaned back to see Elsa's smile, fighting the impulse to kiss her lips. She did, however, give Elsa's buttocks a surreptitious squeeze before stepping away and taking her seat for breakfast.

 _Flirting? With me?_  Elsa tried to glare at the brat, but she couldn't help grinning. Anna put on a face of ostentatious innocence, daring Elsa to call her on it.

As Elsa salted and peppered her eggs, Anna sat up straight and announced, "Could I have the pickled herring, please."

Elsa raised an eyebrow, wondering what her game was. "Really? You never liked pickled herring."

"Well, I've been thinking about it. People's tastes change over time. I was sure it was disgusting, or I thought it was, so I never gave it a chance. Maybe there are things that aren't as bad as I thought. That are  _good_. That I'd like – like a lot – if I just tried them. If I opened up and gave 'em a chance. Things  _you_  like." She struggled to maintain her mature demeanour as she opened the jar and looked at the limp pieces of fish. She looked up, expecting a smirk or another skeptical eyebrow, but Elsa was turned slightly away, fidgeting with her napkin.

Anna stabbed the smallest piece she could see on her fork and put it on a quarter-slice of rye bread. She nibbled at the corner of the bread, her teeth barely grazing the morsel of fish.  _Oh, w_ _hat the hell._  She popped it into her mouth and chewed.

With a supreme effort she forced herself to smile, even as she shuddered, eyes squinting. She gave Elsa a weak thumbs-up. "Mmm," she lied. She chewed for as long as she could manage, then swallowed hard.

Elsa didn't know whether to laugh or sympathize. "That bad?"

"Augh!" Anna wiped her tongue on her napkin, trying to erase the taste. "How can people put that in their mouth? On purpose? Eww." She halted, wadded up her napkin. "No offense. Sorry."

Elsa shook her head fondly. "It's all right."

"I guess I'm just not as sophisticated as you."

"Baby steps, Anna. Not that you're a baby. Just…one step at a time." She turned to Nils and Helga. "Could we have broccoli with dinner tonight? Steamed lightly. And only if it's  _very_ fresh." In response to Anna's uncertain expression, she said, with a touch of huskiness in her voice, "It's all right. We don't have to go any faster than you're comfortable." She turned back to the servants, and quietly added, "And some cheese sauce. Just in case."

Anna nodded her appreciation, then looked at Elsa crookedly. "And citronfromage for dessert. If that's all right with you."

Elsa nodded, and they continued their meal.

"So, anything you're thinking of doing, Anna? Anywhere you'd like to go?"

Anna locked eyes and smiled sweetly. "Well, actually I've been thinking about the North Mountain. I just feel like exploring those peaks, admiring their pale beauty. Flawless. Something about reaching the tips just gives me tingles, you know?" Anna's smile verged on becoming a leer.

Elsa fiddled with refilling her teacup, noisily stirring honey into it. "Are you s-sure you want to do that?"

"Of course it's something we'd have to do…together." Anna's calm gaze and sensuous smile made Elsa even warmer than her heavy dress.

"I, um… I'd like that. Let's make plans for that  _later_."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Anna forced herself not to wriggle with happiness as she focused on her breakfast.  _I'm doing this. Why am I doing this? I must be crazy._   She felt the same giddy excitement she felt when going dangerously fast, or going down the stairs on a bicycle. She knew she had to keep her secret – Elsa's secret – well, secret. She knew she had to avoid raising suspicion. But this new thing she had with Elsa, it was so wonderful and strange and scary and weird and exciting and confusing and dirty – but a good kind of dirty – and  _new_ , that she wanted to tell everyone. She wanted to celebrate it, and talk about it, and try to understand it. And while she'd always been flattered, even a little overwhelmed, with how much Elsa wanted her, this morning the temptation to make her flustered was too much to resist.  _I'll be good. At least 'til I get her alone._ She grinned up at Elsa, the only one who shared their secret. Elsa smiled timidly back and blushed a little, pleased and scared. "Like you said, Elsa, that's for later. Today let's just have an ordinary day in the castle. Just you and me."

"Just –" Elsa cleared her throat, sipped her tea. "Just you and me."

* * *

Anna linked arms with Elsa as they left The Studio. "Elsa, I really have to –  _whoops!_ " She jerked herself and Elsa to a halt, almost colliding with Ingrid, who curtseyed to them and wished them good morning. They headed down the hallway, Anna on Elsa's left arm, Ingrid following on Elsa's right, carrying a stack of paper and a pencil.

"What was it you were saying?" asked Elsa

"Well, I wanted to…I was going to say…I was hoping the two of us,  _just_  the two of us…" Anna leaned in to whisper. "Um, does she have to be here?"

"She knows, Anna."

Ingrid sped up enough to speak to Anna across Elsa's front. "Congratulations, Your Highness. I hope everything went well."

"I, um, yes. Yes. It was…satisfactory?"

"It's none of my concern, of course, but I do wish you well."

Anna goggled at Elsa, who nodded at Ingrid and gave Anna the sort of fond but embarrassed  _Oh, her!_  expression she usually gave to other people about Anna.

Anna shrugged, and said, "So, now?"

"Ingrid?" said Elsa.

"Yes, ma'am. The councillors are waiting in your outer study. There were copies of the agenda in your rooms, both your rooms, and I have spares if you need them. Lunch follows, then a brief 'welcome home' reception with the local merchants and the visiting Silesian delegation. I've made sure the rest of the afternoon is free until dinner. For both of you."

"Thank you, Ingrid."

"My pleasure, ma'am."

 _So at least Elsa and I can talk this afternoon._ "Um, yeah. Thanks, Ingrid."

"My pleasure, Your Highness."

"Elsa, is she going to be following you around all the time?"

"Well, a lot of the time. I just made her my amanuensis…"

Anna sighed. "That's Greek for 'assistant.' I know."

"Well, you were always better at Romance languages, Anna," said Elsa with a sparkle in her eye and a teasing smirk on her lips. Ignoring Anna's playful glare, she continued. "I couldn't very well take her off the job after one day. People would talk."

"I didn't mean _that_ , I just..."

Anna trailed off and they went quiet as the phrase  _people would talk_  echoed in all of their minds until they reached the door of Elsa's outer study.

Elsa turned to Anna as she was about to reach for the door handle. "One last thing. Why citronfromage for dessert?"

"Well..." She glanced at Ingrid for a moment, then whispered in Elsa's ear. "Last night you did say 'tart and creamy' was one of your favourite flavours." She opened the door and shoved Elsa into the room.


	2. Three-Quarter Time

After the reception Anna was in her rooms, changing into something less formal. There was a gentle knock at the door. "Who is it?"

"It's Ingrid, Your Highness. I have— "

"Come on in." Anna was wearing a light dress, very pale green, with a pattern of sunflowers along the edges. It was a softer, lighter version of what she had worn that morning. She hoped Elsa would like it. Ingrid entered and curtseyed. "I'm glad you're here, Ingrid. Would you lace me up in back, please?"

"Of course, ma'am." As Anna pulled her unbound hair forward and out of the way, Ingrid's soft fingers tightened and tied the silk ribbon.

Anna twisted back and forth, checking the fit, then turned to face Ingrid. "Thanks, that's great. And please, call me Anna?"

"As you wish, Your – Prin – As you wish, Anna." Ingrid smiled nervously.

"Thanks. Now what brings you here?"

Ingrid paused. "A message from…your sister. She'll meet you in the East Dining Room, if you wish, at your convenience."

"Great. I'm just about finished. But first, I'd like to talk to you for a minute." Anna sat on one side of the divan and patted the other. Ingrid sat at the far end and folded her hands in her lap. "Huh." Ingrid gave her a puzzled look. Anna shook her head. "It's nothing. Just when you were sitting down, you reminded me of Elsa for a second. The way you moved."

"I learned how to sit properly from her. I try to learn everything I can from her."

Anna scootched sideways in her seat to face Ingrid. "Wow, you're really, um…she's… Well. I'm glad you're here, and not just to lace me up. I wanted to talk to you about something. About this morning. When I was talking to Elsa, and you were there. About you. I mean when I was talking about you, for a second. Do you…know what I mean?" Ingrid nodded. "Well, the thing is, Ingrid… Ing? Ingy? What do people call you for short?"

Ingrid thought. "I don't know."

"Anyway, you know about what happened last night. With Elsa and me." Ingrid nodded again, her face blank. "It's kind of a big deal. And— "

" _I don't want to leave the castle._ "

Anna stopped short, startled at being interrupted. She looked sideways at the maid-that-was, confused, concerned, but also a tiny bit pleased that Ingrid was standing up for herself. "Ingrid, what are you talking about?"

"I want to stay in the castle. If I have to be a chambermaid again, or work in the kitchens or the laundry, I will. But I want to keep serving my queen.  _Please_." Ingrid shrank back. "If it please Your Highness."

"Will you for heaven's sake calm down?" She winced as she saw the stricken expression on Ingrid's face. "No, I didn't mean it like that. Oh hell, this is not how this was supposed to go. Nobody's sending anyone anywhere. I'm trying to  _apologize_ , okay?" She sighed, shook her head. "Look, I just want you to understand. I've been through a lot lately. Some good, some horrible, some amazing. And I'm still mixed up over it all. And this morning, well, I wanted to talk to Elsa about it. And because, you know, you and her, and you were there…it felt weird. Awkward. Nothing against you. I mean, I didn't want her to _get rid of you_ get rid of you, just get rid of you for a bit. A little bit. It's just… I really needed to talk to someone about all this shi— Stuff. This stuff. And the _only_ person I can talk to about this stuff is Elsa."

Ingrid nodded, looked at her lap. She cleared her throat, and said, "…or me?"

"What?" Ingrid had been so quiet that Anna wasn't quite sure what she'd said.

"Um, or me? If you like? Possibly. That is, I'm sure E-Elsa could give you much better advice and understanding, and she's very wise, and you're very close. But if it's a matter of someone who knows about your…business, and would never tell, I could… I could listen. If you like. And I would never tell."

"I guess I have your word, huh."

"I took a vow. I'm loyal to Her Majesty, and to her heirs and successors. And you're a good person. And I'm…I try to be a good servant. And friend. To her." She swallowed. "And to you, if you like."

"And you're okay with the whole 'me and Elsa' thing? I mean, you're not mad at me or anything? You're okay with it?"

"You make her happy."

Anna fiddled with her sleeve. "God, I hope so."

"You do."

Anna saw the calm conviction in Ingrid's face, and it made her feel a little more settled. "Well. I guess I'd better find out what she's up to." Anna stood – Ingrid springing to her feet as she did so – and smoothed her dress. "Do I look okay?" Ingrid nodded. "Well, wish me luck."

"Good luck. Anna." Ingrid curtseyed as Anna left the room, then began tidying up.

Anna closed the door behind her as she entered the East Dining Room. It was modest by castle standards, only large enough to seat two dozen, except that the dining table and chairs had been moved against the side wall. All the windows along the far wall were unshuttered, but covered by sheer curtains, letting in a diffuse light that made the honey-coloured wood panelling luminous. Even more luminous was Elsa, wearing a dove-grey dress, her hair in a single braid. Her gentle smile warmed Anna.

Running to meet her, Anna stumbled to a stop in front of her sister. "Um, hi. You look…wow."

"Hi yourself. And you look 'wow' yourself."

"What, me? No, I just– "

Elsa put her finger to Anna's lips. "You're beautiful, Anna. You always are." Her finger left Anna's lips and trailed down her arm.

Flushing a little, Anna looked around. On the table beside them she spotted an inlaid wooden box, the size of a small suitcase, with a crank in its side. "What have we here?" She swung the lid back on its hinge, revealing levers and switches.

"I think you know," said Elsa.

"The music box that the Helvetican ambassador gave you for your coronation. Did you ever try it out?" said Anna as she cranked the handle.

"I had a peek inside. It's a remarkable piece of clockwork." Inside the box was a complex mechanism that could play a full-length song without repeating itself or slowing down.

"Yes, but did you ever listen to it?"

"Once. Memories."

"Well, we'd better make some new memories, then. Right?" Anna grinned up at Elsa, and set the mechanism to "Waltz", the tempo to "Medium-Slow", and flicked a lever. The air filled with a tinkling melody in three-quarter time, based on an old Arendellan folk tune. The sound was surprisingly rich for a music box. She turned to Elsa. "We have music. We have a dance floor. Any ideas?"

Elsa curtseyed. "Your Highness, would you do me the honour of this dance?"

"Your Majesty," said Anna, returning the curtsey, "I would be delighted."

There was a moment's confusion as they figured out where to put their hands. Elsa asked, "Who's going to lead?"

"You  _are_  a born leader."

"Seems you were quite the leader at Baldur's Pass."

Anna gazed into her sister's eyes. "You'll always be my leader." She smiled at her flustered sister, until Elsa composed herself and began the dance.

They glided gracefully around the floor, Elsa confident, Anna instantly responsive. "I thought you said you didn't dance, Elsa."

"You didn't ask."

"What would you do if I did?"

Elsa looked past Anna, seeing the Coronation Ball. And what followed. After a moment she said, "We're dancing  _now_. Let's think about that."

"Oh, sorry. Of course. You're very graceful, milady."

"As are you, milady."

It was the most relaxed smile Anna had ever seen on Elsa's face.  _In the daytime, anyway._ She licked her lips nervously and said, "Elsa. Can I ask you something about last night?"

A sudden chill rippled through the room, then vanished. "Of course."

"The, um, thing you did. When you kissed me…down…where I wasn't expecting to be kissed."

Elsa smirked. "I suppose we could call it 'kissing'."

_Glide, step, step. Glide, step, step._  "Did you… Did you make that up yourself?"

Elsa nearly stumbled. "Did I what?"

"Did you think of that yourself? I mean, it was nice. It was very nice. Whoa, you wouldn't _believe_ how nice it was. But, did you?"

Elsa grinned, shook her head. "No, cunnilingus has been going on for… Well, you know that book of reproductions in the library,  _History of the Figure in European Art_?"

"The big blue one up on the top shelf? With the coloured plates?"

"Did you ever look at the painting of Sappho?"

"Um, naked lady reclining by a stream, with her friend's head in her lap? Sure. But what…  _No!_  That's about  _that?_ "

"Mm-hmm."

_Glide, step, step. Glide, step, step._

"Oh," said Anna, her eyes wide. "That's why Mama was so weird."

"What?"

"Well, I was looking at it in the library, I was about eight at the time. Mama came in and asked me what I was looking at. The girls in the painting looked so relaxed and comfortable together, and happy, and I'd been missing you a lot, so I looked up at her and said, 'I wish Elsa and me could be like that.' " Elsa laughed, and Anna did too. "I had no idea!"

"Then what happened?"

"Mama got this really weird look on her face. Not angry or anything, just…weird. Then she put the book _way_ up on that top shelf, and took me down to the kitchens for some cookies. I thought she was trying to make me feel better be— because I missed you." Anna held Elsa closer.

"I missed you too. All the time." They stopped dancing, and held each other, music glittering in the air.

"I love you so much, Elsa. I love that I can hug you like this. And I love that, since we…since last night, things are back the way they used to be."

Anna couldn't see the apprehension in Elsa's eyes. "Wait. Back to what?"

"Well, before I knew how you felt about me, I could hug you, and tell you you're beautiful – you are beautiful, by the way. The beautifullest ever – and cuddle and stuff, and never give it a second thought. Just because I felt like it. Then…stuff happened…and first I was scared, and when I got over being scared and I was okay with it, I still was awkward about it because I didn't want to get your hopes up, or make you uncomfortable. It wouldn't be fair to make you feel… And we were back together, but it wasn't the same. And now…" She took her head off Elsa's shoulder and gazed into her eyes. "…I can cuddle you and hug you and say you're beautiful just because I feel like it, and not worry about you feeling things for me, because you feeling things for me is okay."

"Okay?"

Anna smiled at her, heavy-lidded. "It's wonderful." And she kissed Elsa, long and sweetly. "You're my girlfriend, and I'm your girlfriend, and it's wonderful. A little weird and unexpected, but wonderful."

"It is wonderful," said Elsa, and kissed her until the music stopped.

Anna pulled back to look at her. "You know what I love about you?"

Elsa smiled contentedly, her hands still on Anna's hips. "What?"

"I love— One of the things I love about you— Actually there are tons of things I love about you. So. Wanna know  _one_  of the things I love about you?"

Elsa's eyes shone with fond amusement. "Of course."

"Your freckles."

" _My_  freckles?"

"Yeah. You have this soft, soft trail of freckles right across there." She traced the line of them across Elsa's face with her nose-tip. Elsa giggled. "They're so faint it's like shadows of freckles resting on your face. They're soft and grey, like pussy-willows…except not, obviously, because they're smaller, and… Am I making any sense at all?"

"Thank you, Anna. That was beautiful."

"It's just they're so cute and small and soft and adorable and cute. They're like you. They're a gentleness that most people don't notice, but I do, and it just makes me love you more." She hugged Elsa tightly. "I love you  _so much._ "

"I love you too, Anna. With all my heart."

"I love you too." She rested her cheek against Elsa's hair. "Thank  _god_  you didn't fall in love with Ingrid."


	3. Diminuendo

Holding Elsa close, Anna couldn't see the look of desolation on her face, but she felt the chill rush through the room. She stepped back, and looked down at the snowflake pattern of frost that had shot out across the floor from where Elsa was standing. She cried "No!" as she grabbed Elsa in a bear-hug, squeezing tightly even as Elsa struggled half-heartedly. "No, it's okay, Elsa. It's okay."

"It's not okay. How could it be okay?" Defeated, Elsa stopped resisting and let her head sag against Anna's.

"It is, it is okay. I know you're blaming yourself, and you think you're a bad person, but you're not. You're a good person. I know you are."

Elsa breathed deeply, willing the tears not to come, hating how much she loved the warmth of Anna against her, the soft comfort of Anna stroking her hair.

"It's okay that you didn't love her, Elsa. I mean, I'm not saying you didn't care about her. She's obviously very special to you, and you're fond of her, and you've been through so much together. And all the bedroom stuff you did together, that's all right. You're good to her. She was happy, and she made you happy, and nobody was hurting anybody. You would never do anything to hurt anybody."

Elsa tried to push herself away. "Anna no, I – "

"Anna yes!" She stopped Elsa's mouth with a kiss. Elsa resisted for a moment, then melted into the embrace. Even as she felt the rush of love and passion flowing from Anna into her, tears trickled down her cheeks. She made a sad little moan, a downward glissando, helpless to resist her sister's love, helpless to change the past.

At last Elsa pulled away from the kiss and murmured in Anna's ear, "I'm not a good person, Anna. You don't know. And when you do, I don't know if you'll ever love me again."

"I don't care what you think you've done, Elsa. You loved me when I needed you to love me, and I'm gonna love you when you need me to love you, and nothing can stop me."

"You don't  _know_ , Anna."

"You think you were using her, but you weren't. And yeah, I kinda think she fell in love with you, and that's really sad, but still you made her happier than anything. And then you could be there for me. So all things considered, it's a good thing you didn't fall in love with her, right?"

The snowflake pattern on the floor grew more elaborate. "What if – what if – what if – what if – what if I did?" Anna let go of her. "What if I fell in love with her? What if she was there, always there for me, caring about me, never wanting anything for herself? What if I could feel peace when I was with her? What if I didn't mean to, what if slowly I opened my heart to her, and she was already inside it?" Elsa turned away, looking at the pattern on the floor, watching it spread and become more intricate. "I told you what happened in the ice house. But I didn't tell you what I felt. I held her in my arms, she was ice cold, pale as death, and I was thinking, 'Not again.' I couldn't bear to see the woman I love freeze to d-death, not again." Anna's jaw was slack, her eyes locked on Elsa. "And I told her I loved her. And I did. And I do."

Elsa turned to face her again, her eyes wild. "And I love you, too. I don't know if you believe me, but I do. And I can't. I... _I don't know what to do._ "

"You were in love with her."

"Yes."

"When you came to me."

"Yes."

Anna was too stunned to be angry or hurt. Genuinely puzzled, she asked, "But…how? How could you do that?"

" _She told me to!_ " Anna reached out a hand to comfort her sister, but Elsa flinched away. "She literally told me to. To forget about her, and do whatever it took to comfort you. And I saw you, feeling unloved, and you  _never_  deserve that, but…" She slumped as if the thread holding her up had been cut. "I should never have done it. Not to her. Not to you." She smiled bitterly. "They were right. I am a monster. Just not the kind that everyone thought."

"Elsa, no." Anna couldn't say what she was saying 'no' to: to Elsa being a monster, to Elsa having betrayed Ingrid, betrayed herself, to Elsa hating herself, to believing that it happened.

"Elsa yes," she said softly, and shook her head. "I'm as bad as Kristoff. Worse. You weren't even conniving with me. You, thank God, are still blameless."

"No, you're not like Kristoff. It's… It's different."

"How?"

" _I don't know._  It just is. You weren't lying – okay, you kind of were, by not telling me – but you weren't… You weren't being greedy. Selfish, I mean. You didn't do what you did because you wanted me, you did it because you loved me, and you were helping. Trying to help. I guess?"

Elsa nodded, shrugged.

Anna went on. "But Ingrid? When she came to get you? Was she…?"

"She was disappointed that I wasn't happier. Can you believe it? Sometimes I don't understand her. Or myself. Or what I'm doing. God knows what you think of me now."

"I…" Anna was overwhelmed by her thoughts and feelings. "I don't know what I think."

"Times like these I wish we weren't Lutheran, because I'd really like to blame all this on Loki."

Anna managed a weak chuckle as Elsa smiled crookedly.

Elsa looked around. "And what you did for me here, this was the most beautiful, thoughtful, romantic thing… I was… I was weak and stupid." She gestured at the room. "I could never deserve this, deserve you. How could I even think that?"

Anna's confusion changed direction. "I did what here?"

Shuddering with the sobs she was holding in, Elsa gestured again at the music box, the room. "This. This beautiful moment. Finding the music box, setting up the room, inviting me here, dancing with me. It was more lovely and romantic than anything I could imagine, and I love you, and I wish I could deserve – "

"I didn't do this. I thought you did.  _You_  sent for  _me_ , right? You sent…"

"…Ingrid?"

They stared at each other in silence. Elsa's hands flew to her mouth, but a hysterical giggle burst through her fingers.. "Ingrid! Of course! Because this couldn't be insane enough!"

Anna put a hand on her arm. "Elsa. Elsa!" Her agitation faded at Anna's touch, but the hysteria didn't leave Elsa's eyes.

"Anna, just when I think I don't know anything, I find out I know even less."

"Listen, I'm worried about you, and furious, and hurt, and I'm baffled at you, and a bunch of other stuff I can't figure out yet. But I do love you. I always will. Just like I said."

"Why?"

"Because… I just do, okay?" Anna shrugged helplessly. She saw the hysteria rising in Elsa again and grabbed her arms. "Listen! I just – I – I'm very confused. Overwhelmed, I guess. And I don't think I can talk to you right now. But somehow or other we are going to figure this thing out. We will. I know it. So…" She took a deep breath and stood up straight. "I'm going to go away now. It's a couple of hours to dinner, and I expect to see you there. So don't… So just… So, take care of yourself and don't hurt yourself or anything. Okay?" Elsa nodded. "Promise?" Nod. "Really promise?" Nod. "Okay. So I  _will_  see you at dinner. Right?" Nod. "Okay then. Well…" Anna waved, immediately felt like an idiot for doing so, and left the room.

Elsa stood in the centre of the room, the frost pattern growing more lacy as it crept towards the walls.


	4. Dialogues

There was a quiet tap at the door. Anna took a lunging step towards it, stopped herself, and resumed pacing. "C'mon in."

Ingrid entered, curtseyed, and closed the door behind her. "Ma'am." Hands clasped in front of her, she looked like a child waiting for the teacher's strap.

"Sit down, sit down," Anna said, waving at the divan. Ingrid sat at one end, hands clasped again in her lap, watching Anna fidget, then stop herself. "So," she blurted, too loud. Seeing Ingrid wince, she tried again, softer. "So." Anna looked around herself, pulled the chair from the vanity, and sat facing Ingrid. "So, Ingrid."

"Ma'am."

Anna cleared her throat. "We, um, we had a good talk, didn't we? Earlier?" Ingrid nodded. "You, me, Elsa, all that stuff. Me and Elsa. You and Elsa. Right?" Another nod. Anna crossed her legs, her foot jiggling. "Was there anything…" She looked at the ceiling. "Anything you might've left out?"

"I suppose I might have, ma'am…Anna."

"Something…important?"

"Important? I don't know. I suppose." Ingrid's shoulders moved just enough to shrug.

Anna looked at her, smiling, trying not to look intimidating. "Anything in particular? You want to talk about?" Her foot twitched like a metronome.

"I, um…" Ingrid blinked. "I can't think of anything I  _want_  to talk about, but I'll answer any questions you have, ma'am."

Anna clasped her hands on her knee, looked down as she gathered her thoughts, then up again. "Ingrid, you, um… Elsa…" Her voice grew gentle. "Elsa loves you, doesn't she."

Ingrid's eyes were wide and shining, her mouth tight. She was torn between grinning and crying, and trying to stop both. She nodded.

Anna's expression was part frown, part gentle smile. "I mean she's  _in_  love. With you. And was, and has been for…how long?"

"I couldn't say, ma'am. It's only been a couple of days since she said so. I don't know how long before that." Ingrid didn't move, but her knuckles were white. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Anna leaned forward, head tilted, eyes pleading for an explanation. "And you love her – I mean you're  _in_  love with her – since…?"

"I couldn't say for sure, ma'am. Since well before she – before I kissed her. The mistletoe. Quite a while. Maybe since the second time we spoke."

Anna sat back, shook her head. "Oh. The  _second_  time. Of course. Can't fall in love with someone you just met, after all."

"The first time I was…mostly terrified, ma'am."

"I see," said Anna, and rested her face in her hands. She looked up in time to see a ripple of tension leave Ingrid's body as she sat relaxed but erect.  _Sit like a cat. Learned that from Elsa._ Anna considered ringing for some drinks, maybe some white wine. _No. Too soon._  "Ingrid. I'm not mad at you. Okay, maybe I am a little mad at you. Not for being in love with Elsa. I mean I was the one who…and you…and she… Anyway. But how could you let her do that? How could you let  _me_  do that? How…?" Anna ended with a helpless shrug.

Ingrid gripped the fingers of one hand with the other. She looked down, to either side, then back at Anna. "I didn't mean for it to happen this way."

"Of course not, Ingrid. I know. But that's not an answer."

Anna waited patiently as Ingrid stared at the floor again. "She wanted to comfort you. You mean the world to her. I was afraid thinking of me might…get in the way."

"And just now, with the room and the music box. Do you  _want_  her to cheat on you?"

"I want her to be happy. I want the two of you to be happy."

Anna scoffed in frustration. "Do you love her or not?"

Ingrid nodded.

"Don't you want to be with her?"

"Do you, ma'am?"

"Ingrid, please, answer the question. I just want to understand. I mean, in like two days I was in love with Kristoff and it's great, then Kristoff cheats on me, I'm sad and angry and devastated, Elsa comes home early, I run to her for comfort, I kind of fall in love with her, and it's beautiful and exciting and scary and I'm happier than – I don't know –  _ever_ , and we're dancing and I'm so in love my heart is going to explode, but then Elsa's cheating on you and _I'm the slut in the closet!_ " Anna paused to get her breath back. "So you can understand if I'm a little mixed up."

Ingrid's lip quivered, but she couldn't respond.

"Is this some…weird game to you?"

Ingrid shook her head no.

"Then what do you want? Really? And don't say 'I want her to be happy.' Give me a real answer."

Anna stared at her, waiting for an answer. At last Ingrid replied, "Please love her." Anna watched her swallow and blink away tears, and waited for her to continue. "You are her first and greatest love. I do love her, and want to serve her and be with her, and…in every way. It makes me happier than anything in the world. And she loves me. Or did."

"She does. She said so."

"But if I were to stand in the way of a greater love, my happiness…I would be stealing it from her. How could my happiness be worth the difference between her love for you and for me?" She stopped, shook her head.

Anna sighed. "Ingrid, love isn't supposed to be a formula. 'If X is greater than Y, then Z equals Elsa plus Anna.' It's not like that."

Ingrid stared blankly.

"Algebra? Mathematics?" Anna wiped a hand over her face.  _Remember, she's self-taught._  "Okay, love is…it isn't like doing sums. Or counting coins to see if  _this_  is worth more than  _that_. It's… You don't think it through. You feel it." Anna scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Like I know anything about love."

Ingrid leaned forward. "You do. You love her. She loves you. When you're with her, when you danced with her, when you…were with her. How did it feel?"

"It felt…good. Great. Wonderful." Anna gazed into the distance, recalling the feelings. "I felt safe, and loved. And free. We could be playful again. It was…like having my sister back. And more. Exotic, dangerous. But in a good way. And just being being able to open up to that love she's had for me, that I couldn't feel before, and feel her excitement and – and relief. No, more than that. Like a burden was lifted off of her, and she was light as a feather, and I was too. And also, you know, the bedroom stuff was amazing. But then I asked her about you, and that was pretty devastating, and I didn't know what I thought except that it changed everything, and – "

"Please love her." Ingrid's eyes were wide, frantic.

"What do you mean – "

"Please, Your Highness. If I was wrong, if she's not happier with you, if I made things worse, then I've spoiled everything. I've thrown away…lost…her… I tried to fix things with the music, and the dancing – I hoped for dancing – but it wasn't enough, and… Please love her, and make her love you. Fix things. Make it worthwhile. Make it be for a reason."

Anna paused, then stood and rang for a servant.  _Not too soon for a drink after all._

* * *

Solvej was in the wine cellar, retrieving a bottle of Riesling. She didn't know that there was a hidden chamber next to it. If she had, she wouldn't have known which wall had the concealed doorway. But if she did, and if it had occurred to her to press her ear against the wall, she might've heard a conversation:

_"I love Anna. I love Ingrid. I can't love both of them"_

_"Evidently you can."_

_"You know what I mean. It's not fair to either of them."_

_"So what's fair to you?"_

The tap-tap of shoes pacing back and forth _. "What does it matter? I'm a monster."_

_"What's a 'monster'? Something strange and different. Why is that a bad thing?"_

_"Stop playing with words. I love them. And I've hurt both of them. What am I going to do? How can I fix this? What's wrong with me?"_

_"What are you going to do? Whatever you want. Between your crown and your gifts you are the most powerful figure in Europa. Probably the world. Who can stop you from doing anything?"_

_"That's not the point."_

_"Given… Given that you can do whatever you want to do, what do you want to do?"_

A sigh. _"I want to do the right thing."_

_"Right, wrong. You don't have to follow the rules. You make the rules. The constitution says you can't be censured or accused. Right and wrong are what you say they are."_

_"No! It's because no one can stop me that I have to stop myself. I have to care about right and wrong. And this isn't about laws, this is about love."_

_"So?"_

A long pause. _"This is about love. Anna loves me. Ingrid loves me. I can't… I'm responsible for them, their feelings, for how I treat them. That's the biggest responsibility of all. And I've been…toying with them. Using them. I've been selfish."_

_"Good! Best thing for you."_

_"What the hell do you mean?"_

_"Anna loves you unconditionally. She sacrificed herself for you once, and she's do it again in an instant. And Ingrid? She loves to serve you. She hungers for it."_

_"You are not making me feel better."_

_"Here's my point. They want to give. They want to be used. They crave it. It's how they show their love. For you to turn that down? Well, If they love to give, it's pretty selfish not to take."_

_"So, it's selfish not to be selfish?"_

_"All I'm saying is, stop being so guarded. Relax. Accept their love and forgiveness. Don't worry about protecting them from yourself. Make love to Anna. Make love to Ingrid. If they like it, where's the harm in taking what you want?"_

_"I can't do that! Anna's been through…well, the whole Kristoff thing. She needs my love, and it hurts her if I'm cheating on Ingrid."_

_"Does she have to know?"_

_"Of course! I can't lie to her."_

_"Then keep Anna and get rid of Ingrid. Simple."_

_"No, it's not simple. I love Ingrid, and it would crush her if I rejected her. I can't hurt her like that."_

_"Who do you love more?"_

Pacing footsteps. _"I don't – They're so different, I wouldn't know how to compare. And it's not the point."_

_"I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here. Giving you a different perspective. Up to you if you take it. So, Elsa, where do you go from here?"_

A mirthless chuckle. _"Ingrid said I'd follow my heart anywhere it may lead. But it's pulling me in two directions."_

_"So. Your heart. How's that working out so far?"_

A long silence.


	5. Riesling

"I could've done that," said Anna, as Ingrid filled their glasses and sat down.

"I'm sorry," said Ingrid. "If you'd rather, I won't do it again."

"No, it's not that." Anna tasted her wine. It was cool and pleasantly tart. "I'm sorry. I keep trying to make you comfortable, but… Could you just not be a servant for a while?"

"I'll try."

Anna took another swallow of Riesling. She held up her glass, looking at the faint yellow tint it gave the light. "I, um… Ingrid? Could you do me a favour?"

"Of course."

"If I start to have something to drink tomorrow, could you tell me not to?"

"If you like."

She saw the concern in Ingrid's eyes. "It's not a big deal, but…" Anna thought about what Gerta had told her about her mother. "I just don't want to make it a habit, you know?"  _Don't drink every day. Don't drink alone. Don't drink before… Well, at least it's close to five._

"I suppose so."

"You haven't touched your drink."

Ingrid picked up her glass, held it to her nose, and inhaled the bouquet. She held it up to eye level, swirled the wine in her glass, and watched it run back down the inside. She took a mouthful and winced, puckering her face.

Anna was surprised. It had seemed okay to her. "Is there something wrong with it?"

"I'm sure it's fine."

"Then why did you make that face?"

"I'm sorry. I've never had wine before. I'm not used to it."

"Then what's with all the bouquet and legs and connoisseur stuff?" Anna replied to Ingrid's blank look by demonstrating the sniffing and swirling.

"It's what I've seen people do. I didn't want to look foolish."

Anna laughed. "It's okay. You don't have to drink it."

"I was surprised. But it is nice. Tart, like sour apples." Ingrid took another drink, with more satisfaction.

"Well, I'm relieved. It'd be pretty embarrassing if I couldn't tell good wine from bad. I mean, royal banquets and stuff. I have to look like I know what I'm doing."

"I'm sure you do know."

Anna drank again. "It doesn't feel like it some days." She paused, then forced herself to brighten. "Anyway, not a lot of drinking where you grew up?"

"Not wine. Beer with dinner, of course, and with lunch for the men. I had to have a little, but I didn't like it. Akvavit on special occasions." Ingrid took another swallow of her wine, with growing satisfaction. "This is nice."

"It is. And I know what you mean. I had to have a little wine with dinners when I was growing up. Heaven help us if the Royal Princess didn't know her Merlot, or spooned her soup the wrong way. So, everyone else in the family liked their beer?"

"Except Anders." Ingrid brightened at the memory. "One time he said, 'It'd be a terrible thing if I became a drunk. Can you imagine me drooling, slurring my words, not even able to stand up? What a life!' " She laughed lightly, until she saw the distraught look on Anna's face. Ingrid sank in her chair, head bowed. "Because…he was already… It was funnier when he said it. Sorry."

Anna sighed. "It's okay, Ingrid. I'm glad you can laugh about it. I'm glad someone can laugh about something." She sipped. "Oh, what are we going to do?"

"I, um… That was a rhoric – rhetorical question, I suppose."

Anna shrugged. "You got any ideas?"

"You have someone you love, who loves you. That's worth fighting for."

"I could say the same thing to you. An' you had her first."

Ingrid spluttered on her wine. "I – I can't  _have_  her. She has me."

Anna leaned forward. "So she's  _not_  worth fighting for. Not good enough for you, eh?" Ingrid's eyes and mouth flew open, her face went beet red. Anna put her hands out in a 'calm down' gesture. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Relax." She gave the girl a moment to collect herself. "Remind me not to tease you again." Ingrid nodded. "But you want me to fight for her, and not you. I mean, you not – not you fighting for her. Why?"

"You…want me to?"

Anna smacked her forehead with her palm. "I want to understand. I want to figure out what's going on. Where I stand. What you're up to."

"I'm not up to anything." Ingrid's eyes were pleading. "I just want to make things right." Ingrid took a deep breath and sat up straight. "If I may, I'd like your permission to ask a question. A very personal question. It's a — "

"— terrible liberty, you're not worthy, blah blah blah. Oh for Satan, spit it out." She saw Ingrid wince. "I'm sorry. I don't mean it. Sorry."

Her mouth dry, Ingrid took another drink of her wine. She closed her eyes. "If you were in love with Kristoff, why didn't you fight for him?"

Pointing a finger at Ingrid, Anna said, "You weren't there. Let me tell you what happened." As Ingrid refilled their glasses, Anna told her what had happened that night, all the way from surprising Kristoff in her outer room to waking up hungover the next day. It might have been the wine, the passage of time, her new love with Elsa, or all three. But it didn't sting like it did the first time. When she got to the part about kicking Lissi out of the room, she was actually grinning, and Ingrid was quivering with suppressed laughter. Even the hangover was transformed from a painful memory to an entertaining story.

"And then Elsa came back and, well, you know the rest." Anna relaxed back in her seat. Her smile disappeared. "I swear to god, Ingrid, if I had known…"

"It's fine," said Ingrid with more passion than usual. "It's good. You're better than me. You're a princess."

"No no no." Anna waved her hands back and forth. "Princess is what I do, not what I am. I'm not better than you. You, me, Ingrid, Anna; we're the same."

"I don't mean to argue, Your Highness, but nope." Ingrid shook her head, stopped herself as the wine made itself felt. "You are gracious – "

"Hah."

"An' cultured and educated – "

"Double hah."

"And very, very, very pretty. Prettier than Elsa."

"H– What? She's beautiful. The beautifullest."

Ingrid nodded, then stopped herself again. "She's more beautiful than you, but you are prettier than her."

"I – " Anna thought. "I have no idea what that means."

Ingrid raised her finger, about to speak, then halted. "With your permission, I will explain tomorrow. Wine makes it hard to think."

"Yep." Anna rubbed her eyes. "So what do we do now?"

"You love her. You need her. And she needs and loves you. Go to her. And I…will be her faithful servant, as always. And only her servant."

Anna's eyes narrowed. "You love her too."

"I do. With all my heart. But if she could love you without sharing the inimi – intimacy she craved, the leas' I can do is follow her example." She smiled, weakly. "It's what's right. I am her loyal servant, and yours." She squared her shoulders. "And now, by your leave, I shall help her prepare for dinner."

Anna smiled, her eyes crinkling. Waving a hand grandly, she said, "Thank you, Ingrid. You may go."

Ingrid stood up. "Whoo!" She wavered. "That was interesting."

"Y'know, maybe you shouldn't go just yet. Maybe you should lie down for a bit. I'll go check on Elsa, and you rest up. Okay?"

"As you wish," said Ingrid, as she lay down on the divan. Anna stood up, unsteady but steadier than Ingrid. "Send her my love and my apologies." Ingrid's eyelids drooped. "You are pretty, she is beautiful, and I am…"

Anna paused, but the sentence didn't finish, so she left to join her lover for dinner.

Before Ingrid lost her battle with fatigue, she thought,  _Why was Kristoff kneeling?_ but fell asleep before she could find the answer.


	6. Wake Up Call

Elsa opened the door to Anna's rooms a crack and peeked in. She saw Ingrid asleep on the divan, lying down, her legs flopped awkwardly over the edge. Elsa slid into the room and quietly closed the door behind her.

She smoothed Ingrid's hair and gently lifted her feet onto the divan. Elsa perched on the edge of the seat and watched Ingrid sleep for a little while, listening to her quiet breathing.

Satisfied that the girl was resting comfortably, Elsa shifted, about to get up and rejoin Anna. But her movement was enough to rouse Ingrid. Bleary, blinking eyes looked up at her.

"Hello, sleepyhead," said Elsa with an indulgent smile, her eyes crinkling.

Ingrid wailed in despair and rolled away from Elsa, burying her face in the back of the divan, covering her head with her arm.

"Hungover?" Elsa stroked her back, and felt Ingrid tense rock-hard under her hand. She heard muffled sobs. "What is it, mousie?"

"Please don't call me that," said Ingrid, her voice blurred by the cushions. "It's not right."

"Ingrid, what is it? What's the problem?"

"I've failed you. I'm so sorry. I – I'm sorry."

Elsa continued stroking her back. "Ingrid, we've all been through a lot in the past couple of days. There have been a lot of changes, a lot of… Well, I still don't quite know exactly where I stand, or where I'm going, with you or with Anna. Frankly, I think we could all use a few days of peace and quiet to take everything in. But all of us are kind, and we care about each other. I know we'd never mean to hurt each other. And if we have, I think we're all ready to forgive. So whatever it is that's troubling you, we can talk about it. We  _have_  to. And in the end it'll be good for us. Now, why do you think you've failed me? Whatever it is, it can't be that bad."

"I don't mean to argue, but it is. It is." said Ingrid. Elsa waited for her to go on. At last Ingrid rolled onto her back so she could look at Elsa. "I fell asleep." Elsa's quizzical look forced her to explain. Her face filled with despair, Ingrid said, "I fell asleep on duty. Worse, I got drunk, and  _passed out_ , on duty. I wasn't there for you. I'm a terrible servant and a terrible person. I'm a disgrace."

"Is that all?" asked Elsa, forcing herself not to giggle.

"It's enough. It's more than enough. My first full day as your amanuensis – No, it's not even a full day. The day's not over, and here I am…" Her lip trembled as she fought not to cry. "Here I am. Like this!"

Elsa almost wept with relief – and with the effort of not laughing. "Ingrid, you're a good servant, and a good friend. It's all right." As Ingrid shook her head, Elsa said, "It _is_. It's fine. Anna told me what happened. She said for you to have some wine, and I know you wouldn't refuse an instruction from the royal family, so actually it's all on her. You're as blameless as ever. Was it really the first time you had wine?"

Ingrid, still a little groggy, paused to think. "Not if you count communion wine. But otherwise, yes."

Elsa sat up straight and adopted a serious expression. "I see. Well, I shall have firm words with Princess Anna about being more responsible with our servants." Her face softened into a smile. "And with our friends and loved ones."

Ingrid's mouth quivered as she tried to sort through the guilt, pride, relief, and devotion that were buffeting her like a storm. "Thank you. I'll make you proud."

"You already make me proud, mouse. I don't think I've told you enough how proud I am. You'd already done and learned so much before I met you, and I've seen how much you've grown since."

A sunny smile dawned on Ingrid's face. "Thanks to you, my queen. I owe so much to you. You made me who I am."

"You made yourself who you are."

"No, it's… I know who I am. I'm not a leader, I'm a follower. It's my nature to serve. And whoever I serve shapes me." She smiled even wider. "That's why I chose you."

"You  _chose_  me, did you?" Elsa's smile became a smirk. "I seem to recall a terrified junior chambermaid coming to my study, shaking like a leaf. Are you telling me that even then you were planning on winning my heart?"

Ingrid blushed. "No, not like that. I chose to work for you. I wanted to serve someone good and kind and wise, someone I would always be proud to work for. Someone I would want to be shaped by. You."

"I'm not  _that_  wonderful."

Ingrid looked at her, clear-eyed. "You are."

Uncomfortable, Elsa steered the conversation away. "And how did you manage to  _choose_  to work here? There are only so many positions on the staff, even after we – I – opened the gates."

"I asked."

"It's that simple."

"Yes."

Elsa tilted her head. "Really?"

"Every morning, except Sundays, I came to the servants' door and asked if they had any work. After six weeks, Gerda said yes."

"Six weeks?" Elsa was taken aback. "Is that all?"

"And I worked very hard."

"I see. I thought you said it was easy."

Ingrid shook her head sombrely. "I said it was simple."

Elsa patted Ingrid's thigh. "The more I learn about you, the prouder I am." She sat up, dusted her hands off. "Now. I'm off to meet Anna for dinner. I suggest you – No, I  _instruct_  you to rest here until you're recovered, and then get something to eat. I'll see you again this evening."

"A moment, please, if I may." Hearing Anna's name had triggered a faded thought in Ingrid's mind. "There was…something important. To do with Anna. And Kristoff. If I can just think of it. I beg your indulgence, but if you could give me a moment…"

"Of course." Elsa got off the divan so Ingrid could get up.

Ingrid paced as she thought. "Anna was telling me what happened with, um, that night. And there was… I apologize, I'm not making sense."

Elsa sat down again, watching Ingrid, fascinated. "No, please, go on."

Ingrid continued, half to herself, as she walked through the actions of that night. "He was nervous. He wanted to keep Anna here. He wanted to talk to her. She wouldn't listen. She led him into…"

As Ingrid entered Anna's bedroom, Elsa got up and followed, bemused. She leaned against the doorframe as Ingrid played both parts in the drama. "They were by the bed. He still wanted to talk. They kissed. He asked her to stand. He asked her to face away. He knelt down next to the bed, next to Lissi's uniform. To tuck it back under the bed."

Elsa, despite herself, was getting lost in the playlet being performed for an audience of one. _No, an audience of two. She's performing this for herself._

Ingrid knelt down. She stood up. She put a hand to her chin and thought. She knelt, and brushed her hand across the floor, hiding a phantom dress. She stood again. She scuffed her foot.

"Why was he kneeling? Why wouldn't he push the dress with his foot? It's the sort of thing he'd do. He's a man, he doesn't care about fabric. But he – why did he kneel – " Ingrid's face went pale. "Oh dear." She stood motionless.

"Ingrid." No response. " _Ingrid._ " Elsa took a half-step towards her.

Ingrid returned to the present, and met Elsa's eyes. "I – Elsa, there's something I want you to know." She swallowed. "As much as I want to be with you in every way, I hope you know that I would not put myself forward at Anna's expense."

"Of course," said Elsa, puzzled, as she folded her arms, hugging herself.

"This may – complicate things," said Ingrid. Elsa nodded for her to continue. Ingrid unconsciously mimicked Elsa's posture, folding her arms against herself. "Kristoff was kneeling. It's the custom, among some commoners, for a man to kneel in front of a woman when he…when he is about to propose marriage."

Elsa dropped her arms. "What?" Ingrid nodded. "That's impossible! He didn't ask me for her hand. He didn't even mention it. How could he propose without my blessing?"

Ingrid grimaced. "Some men ask the woman first. Girls are not as scary as fathers. Or…you."

"He couldn't wait until I came back?"

"He may…have been counting on your absence. To have the courage."

"But…" Now it was Elsa's turn to pace and think. "If he was about to propose to Anna, why was Lissi undressed in the closet?" The bedclothes fluttered in an icy breeze.

Ingrid timidly raised a hand. "I have a theory."

"Well?" Elsa winced when she realized she'd snapped at Ingrid. "Sorry. I'm a little… Sorry."

Ingrid acknowledged the apology with a nod. "I think… That is, Lissi and I used to work together. I suspect in my absence, she was…trying on Anna's dresses." Ingrid paused for breath. She wasn't used to talking this much. "She heard Kristoff. He scared her. She hid in the closet." Ingrid dipped her head. "I suppose."

Elsa brushed past Ingrid and sat on the bed to think. It made sense. At least as much sense as Kristoff cheating on Anna. Maybe more.  _But why didn't he say he was about to propose?_ She flopped backwards on the bed and stared at the ceiling.  _No, if he was that nervous in front of Anna, how nervous would he be in front of Anna_ _ **and**_ _a half-undressed maid?_  She sighed heavily. It all made sense. "So now Kristoff's been unjustly banished, and Anna and I…" She sighed again, even more deeply.

After a minute, Ingrid cleared her throat. "I'm sorry to intrude on your thoughts, but I believe Anna is waiting for you in the dining room."

"Anna. Of course." Elsa raised her hands, and Ingrid pulled her to her feet. She smoothed her dress, patted her hair in place. "Well, there's good news."

"I…hope so."

"At least we have something to talk about over dinner."


	7. Cruciferous

Elsa opened the door to The Studio. She had already planned on having dinner there instead of the usual dining room so that it would be cosier, so that she and Anna could be physically closer together. She hadn't been expecting dinner to be laid out, the servants already dismissed, or candles on the table instead of lamps. Anna smiled at her, waved at the table. "I took some initiative. I thought it'd be nice to have something a little more intimate."

"It's lovely," said Elsa as she moved to her chair.  _Good. Some privacy. Though I had different plans for this privacy earlier today._  As she sat, she could see, even in the dim glow, that Anna was hiding her nervousness. Elsa hoped her own wasn't as visible. _I have to tell her what Ingrid said. But maybe after the meal. Let her enjoy her food._

As they dined, Elsa teased Anna about the broccoli. "You know, people do eat it all the time. Willingly. At least it must be non-toxic."

Anna took a floret of broccoli on her fork, held it up and contemplated it. "Okay. Because I love you."

"Because I believe in you."

_It's food. People eat it. On purpose._  Anna took the morsel in her mouth, chewed thoughtfully. "It's…not bad. The texture is…different." She ate a piece of stem. "You know, it's okay. I've had worse." She took another bite. "I like the stems. They're solid-er."

"There. You see?"

"This morning. At breakfast. That pickled fish stuff." Anna shuddered. "I don't get it. But this I can live with."

"I hope you don't lose your sweet tooth. I won't know who you are."

"Oh, that's never gonna happen. But you can go ahead and tell Gerda we can have broccoli on the menu for state banquets again." Anna took a sip of water.

"You're not having wine?" Elsa was only a little concerned.

"I had my portion for today. I don't want to…" Anna slid the unfilled wineglass away from herself. "Did Gerda ever talk to you about Mama and…?" She nodded at the glass. When she saw the melancholy in Elsa's eyes, Anna hated herself for bringing it up.

"She didn't have to. I knew. I was so sorry for doing that to Mama."

Anna hastily said, "Oh no, it wasn't you. It was me. I mean, mostly me."

"You?" Elsa's head jerked up as she looked at Anna.

"She felt bad about how I missed you and how she could never tell me why. She was afraid of hurting me. You were afraid of hurting me. Maybe if everyone wasn't so afraid of hurting me, I –"  _wouldn't have been so hurt_ "Maybe things would be different."

"Anna – "

"Listen, I'm sorry I brought it up. I only talked about it because I'm a little scared I might do the same. Turn out like her, I mean. Not that it would be a bad thing to turn out like her. She was a wonderful, beautiful, woman. I mean inside and out. Just…" Anna smiled weakly. "No more wine for a while, okay? And never worry about hurting me. I'm a big girl now."  _And perfectly capable of hurting myself. And others._

Elsa smiled weakly back, pretending to be reassured.

After dessert – and the citronfromage was a pleasure, even if Anna did keep wagging her eyebrows lasciviously and making Elsa giggle – Anna sat up and said, "So. What's the bad news?"

"What do you mean?"

Anna sighed. "You've been off all through dinner. You tried to hide it, but it kind of showed. I would've said something earlier, but I wanted you to have a chance to enjoy your dinner."

Elsa barked a laugh. "That's exactly what I was thinking about you. That I didn't want to spoil your dinner."

"Well, I'm never giving up dinners, so you might as well spit it out. Okay, bad choice of food-related words. Anyway. Go ahead."

Elsa put her hands together, touching her fingertips to her lips.  _She said not to worry about hurting her. I hope she's right._  Elsa still didn't know how to say it, or where to find the courage.

Anna prompted her. "Is it about you and me? Or you and Ingrid?"

"It's about you and, um." Elsa took a deep breath and exhaled, making the candle flames waver. "You and Kristoff." Anna sat back, surprise driving the expression from her face. "It may be that things weren't what they looked like. They might have been different. Very different."

"How different?"

"It could be that Kristoff really didn't know Lissi was in the room. He might not have had anything to do with her."

"But I saw them there! Together. I mean, not  _together_  together, but they were both in my rooms. At the same time. I mean, if there wasn't something going on, why was she undressed and hiding in my closet?"

"Because she was trying on your dresses. You know how she likes fancy clothes."

"Well, sometimes they are kind of rumpled, and that would explain – NO! Don't distract me! Tell me this: why was he so nervous?" Anna's voice rose, and the expressions returned to her face with a vengeance. "Why did he try to keep me talking? Why did he try to keep me out of the bedroom? If he wasn't doing anything with her,  **why did he try to hide her dress under the bed?** "

As Anna's voice grew louder, Elsa's grew more gentle. "He wasn't trying to hide her dress. He was kneeling, Anna. He was – he might have been – getting ready to propose."

Anna stopped dead, her mouth still open. She sat motionless, trying to take in what Elsa had said. She closed her mouth, opened it as if to speak, but closed it again. After a long silence, in a voice so quiet Elsa could barely hear her, she said, "But why didn't he say anything?"

"I don't know, Anna." Elsa ran around to the back of Anna's chair and hugged her from behind, her cheek pressed against Anna's hair. "I don't know. It's only an idea. But whatever is true, we'll get through it. Together."

"No. It makes sense," said Anna, her voice quiet and flat. "He wanted to talk because he wanted to…to marry me. He was nervous because he was…because he cared about…" She grabbed Elsa's arm tightly and hung onto it like it was a life preserver. Her voice began to waver. "It was right there, and I couldn't see it."

"It's a misunderstanding."

"I was mean to him."

"You made a mistake. You're only human."

"I yelled at him, Elsa."

"You were upset."

"I…" Suddenly she wrenched herself out of Elsa's hug, and turned to face her. Anna's face was pale. "I called him… I was horrible. I was bad."

"You made a mistake, and you were upset, and whatever really happened – "

" _No, you don't understand!_ " Anna took a deep, shuddering breath. "I called him a 'Sami bastard', Elsa!" She looked away, hiding her face in her shoulder. "I yelled at him, and knocked him down, and kicked him out, and that's bad, sure. But I called him a Sami bastard. That was… Oh god, Elsa, I'm a bad person. I'm a horrible person."

"You're not a bad person, Anna. You're a good person who had a bad day."

"I said that…thing…to him. On top of everything else. I was disgusting. No wonder he didn't say anything."

Elsa stood, holding her arms awkwardly. She wanted to hug Anna again, but couldn't bear having Anna shrug her away again. "You didn't mean it, Anna. Not you. You didn't mean it."

"I  _said_  it, Elsa. I wanted to say the most hurtful, disgusting thing I could, and it just flew off my tongue. Not a moment's hesitation. After that, how could he love me? How could you love me? How could anyone love me?"

Elsa knelt beside Anna's chair. "It was the pain talking. You thought he had done something terrible, and whatever was actually happening, the pain was real. But you're still the Anna he loved – loves. And you're the Anna that I love with all my heart." She put a hand on Anna's shoulder. "Anna? Anna? Look at me."

Anna looked at her, eyes reddening, starting to sniffle. "Yeah?"

"Forgiveness, Anna. Forgiveness."

"You think he could forgive me?"

"The important thing is, can you forgive yourself?"

"I don't know."

"Oh, Anna." Elsa hugged her, and even with Elsa kneeling and Anna still in her chair, it wasn't awkward at all.

"I love you so much, Elsa. Thank you."

"I love you, too."

After Anna had cried it out, she said, "Elsa?"

"Yes, Anna-pineapple?"

Anna smirked at the childhood nickname. "You're still kneeling. Does this mean  _you're_  going to propose?"

Elsa cupped Anna's cheek with her hand. "Would that be so bad?"

"You goofball." She pressed Elsa's hand to her cheek, then gave her palm a quick kiss. "You'd better get up. This can't be good for your knees." As Elsa stood up, so did she. "I, um, have to talk to Kristoff about this."

"You don't have to. I could go."

"Nope. It has to be me. If the thing that you said happened really happened, then I owe him a big apology. And I need to find out for sure. But it does kind of make sense. Anyway, it's got to be me."

Elsa smiled sadly. "I understand."

"And I have to find out if he'd take me back. I mean, I'm sorry, you've been – that is, you were there for me when I asked you to love me, and you've been so romantic, and I've basically been jerking you around, and jerking Ingrid around, and being a jerk to Kristoff, and just being a jerk, and you still haven't answered my question."

Elsa blinked. "What question?"

"How could you love me?"

Elsa took Anna's hands in hers. "Oh, Anna, how could I not? Maybe you did some things wrong, but that's because you think with your heart, not your head. And that's what makes you precious to me. I was so cruel to you, shutting you out for years, and if you were the least bit sensible you would've hated me for it. But you loved me. You loved me so much it saved me. And yourself, and Arendelle. I wish I could love like you do, even when you had so many reasons not to."

"Silly girl," said Anna with a smirk. "You don't love  _for_  reasons. Love  _is_  the reason. For everything else."

Elsa pulled her closer. "And that's how I can love you. Because you're my reason." She kissed her tenderly.

Anna melted into the kiss, then pushed herself away. "I'm sorry, Elsa. I still have to talk to Kristoff."

Elsa nodded. "I see." Anna fidgeted, and Elsa's face fell. "Oh. You mean now."

"I don't think I'll be able to do anything until I straighten this out." Anna grinned uncomfortably. "Sorry. But hey, there's no blizzard this time. And no wolves, probably."

Elsa wanted to say,  _Do you have to? Do you really want to? Can't you stay here? With me? At least for one more night?_  She straightened up. "Dress warmly, it gets cold at night. And bring an extra lantern. And food, and a blanket, just in case."

"Elsa, I'll be fine. I've led troops into battle, I've made love with my sister, I've even eaten broccoli. I can do  _anything_."

Elsa chuckled. "Of course you can. And…"  _you can do this, Elsa_  "…good luck. With Kristoff."

"Thanks." Anna kissed her on the cheek. "Really. Thank you." And she left.


	8. Well Met By Moonlight

Kristoff sat on a fallen log, with his campfire between him and the edge of the mountain pond, feeling the heat against his face and hands. Outside of the fire's circle of light, moonlight painted the trees and rocks silver-grey. It was well into the middle of the night, but despite Sven's occasional encouraging nudge (that almost knocked him off-balance), he still didn't feel like climbing into his wagon to pull the tarp over himself and go to sleep.

It was one of his favourite places in Arendelle, a deep pool high up the North Mountain, just below the snowline. It was one of the first to freeze over, and the ice-cutters would swarm like bees once the weather turned, but for now he had the quiet and beauty to himself.

Until the clop-clop of hooves echoed across the pond towards him.

As he saw the horse and its slight rider coming around the pond, he filled a pot with water and tealeaves, and put it on the fire. It was boiling by the time the horse had been hitched to a nearby pine.

"Um, hi," said Anna as she stood before him. She made a timid wave, then clasped her hands in front of herself again.

"Hi," said Kristoff, nodding. He didn't get up, or offer her a seat.

"Um, Kristoff? Can we talk?"

He paused as if about to say something, then simply nodded.

"Okay. Good. That's good." She sat cross-legged in the dirt, facing him and the fire, and tucked her skirt to preserve her modesty and protect her from the evening's chill. "Okay." She cleared her throat. Kristoff watched her, patient and impassive. "So. Here's the thing. I, um, have this theory. Well, I got it from Elsa, really." She thought for an instant. "Who I think actually got it from Ingrid. Anyway. Not the point. So." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "The, um, other day. When I kind of kicked you out of my bedroom. And the castle. And the capital. Well, you know. When you... When I..." He didn't show her any anger or pain, but he wasn't offering her a single particle of help. She took a breath. "You weren't doing anything with Lissi, were you."

Kristoff shook his head.

"In fact, you probably...you didn't even know she was in there."

He nodded.

"And when you were all nervous, and you had me face away, and you knelt down on the floor, you were..." She looked around as if the trees or the stars could help her, then turned her face to Kristoff again. "Kristoff?" She wrapped her arms around herself. "Were you going to, um, propose? To me?"

He nodded.

"Oh my god, that's, well I don't know what that is. It's kind of great, that you weren't doing anything with Lissi. And it's kind of horrible – well, actually really super-horrible – that I was so horrible to you. And you were going to ask me to marry you, well, that's just – wow. That's – wow. I, um..." She tightened the grip on herself, her head bowed. "I'm really sorry, Kristoff. Really, really sorry. For what I said, and what I did, and just everything. I am so, so sorry. I just can't say how sorry I am." She raised her eyes to him, looking for a reaction and not finding one. "Sorry." She dropped her gaze again and waited for him to say or do anything.

After a long, awkward pause, she heard a metallic clatter. Kristoff had taken a blue enamelled mug from the bag behind him, dipped it into the pot on the fire, and offered it to her. "Tea?"

Smiling for the first time since she'd left the castle, Anna said, "Yes, please," and reached for the mug.

"Careful, Anna. It's wet. And hot."

She took it by the rim, dried it off with her skirt, then held it by the handle and gave it a cautious sip. "Whoa! Hot hot hot hot hot." She blew on it, then sipped again.

"We're gonna have to share. I, um, only brought one mug."

Anna gave him a crooked, apologetic grin. "I guess you weren't expecting company."

"I wasn't counting on it, no." She handed the mug back to him and he took a drink.

"Anyway, I was wrong, very wrong, and I want to make it up to you. You're, um, not banned from the city anymore. Or the castle. And you can be Royal Ice Master and Deliverer again. And if you want a royal proclamation of apology, it's yours." She took the mug from him again. "And...the other thing."

"What 'other thing'?"

"The, um, proposal. I, um, that is, yes. Or 'I do.' I will. I accept your proposal. Of marriage. I will marry you." She broke eye contact, staring into the mug she had wrapped her hands around, trying to warm them. "If you'll have me."

She glanced up to see him looking at her thoughtfully. In a matter-of-fact voice he said, "Why?"

"What? 'Why' what? What 'why'? That is, 'why would you have me' or 'why do I want to marry you'?"

" _Do_  you want to marry me? I mean, why did you come up here? Because you miss me and love me and can't wait to be Mrs. Anna Bjorgman? Or because you messed up and you want to fix it, and you think this is what you're supposed to do, to make it up to me?"

"I mean, of course I love you, and I – that is – "

"'Cause you didn't seem too enthusiastic just now."

"Well, I have been pretty upset – not as upset as you, of course – and a lot of stuff has happened since – "

He held up a hand. "I'll make it easy on you. The, um..." He set his jaw firmly, forced himself to look her in the eye. "You don't have to marry me. I withdraw my proposal, for now. Or, what would've been my proposal if...you know." Anna stared at him, wide-eyed. He gestured at the mug. "Could I, um..."

"Oh! Sure. Sure, of course." She handed him the mug. "But I, um, I said I was sorry. I  _am_  sorry. I mean, if you're still that mad at me I understand. I think. I suppose if someone was as big a jerk to me as I was to you, well, I guess I understand if you don't love me anymore. Sorry."

"...I still love you," he muttered.

"Wait, what?"

"I do." He sat up straight. "And you still love me, too, I'm pretty sure. But sometimes that's not enough."

"I don't understand."

"I've been talking it over with Sven, and he makes some good points, but it comes down to this. I was okay with how much you and Elsa love each other. I was even okay with the fact that you love her more than you love me. A lot more. I was happy for you. Am. I am happy for you. But I thought it would at least be close. That I'd be in the same ballpark."

"Kristoff, what are you talking about?"

"You don't believe in me the way you believe in her. You don't have faith in me."

"That's crazy talk, Kristoff! What do you mean – "

"You spent most of your life waiting for Elsa. She shut you out, she ignored you. I mean, she had the best reason for doing it, or she thought she had, but from your side it had to look so cruel. Heartless. And you never lost faith in her. You always believed she couldn't be that way. You knew she loved you, and you loved her, and you had faith in her."

He stopped, drank the rest of the tea, and dumped the leaves out onto the dirt. Fiddling with the empty mug, he continued. "You saw me in what, I admit, looked like a pretty bad situation, but you had no faith that things maybe weren't the way they looked. You didn't have faith in me. Not enough to stop and wonder if..." He shook his head ruefully.

"I'm sorry." Anna wanted to touch him, put her hand on him, to comfort him. But he wasn't in reach, and getting up to move over to him would be too weird. "I'm sorry."

"You said that."

"I mean, I'm sorry for not trusting you. For thinking you could ever do...what I thought you did. And for all the other stuff. I just act before I think. I'm a terrible person."

Kristoff sighed. "It's not that simple. I mean, you don't hesitate. You do what you think is right, the instant it occurs to you. You never second guess yourself."

"Not  _never_."

"Well, not very much. And that's a great thing about you. It's what makes you so brave, and honest. But it can also go wrong. And that's something anyone who loves you will have to deal with. I mean, if I  _was_  cheating on you, what you did would be exactly what I'd deserve."

"Not all of it."

"All of it."

"No. I – There's something else I have to apologize for. When I..." She grabbed the hem of her skirt and twisted it in her hands. In a low voice she said, "When I called you...that name. 'Sami bastard.' I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. That was... I really don't like myself for saying that. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I've been called worse."

"Not by me. And you shouldn't be. Not by anybody. I'm...I can't come up with anything better than 'I'm sorry,' but I am. Sorry."

"Well..." He turned away, to put the mug back in his pack. "Just don't do it again, okay?" She nodded.

They sat in silence for a while, both staring into the flames. Sven tried to shove Kristoff towards Anna, but he pushed Sven's muzzle aside and said, "Not now, okay buddy?"

Anna cleared her throat. "So. About me loving Elsa more than you."

"It's okay." Kristoff smiled lopsidedly. "I knew all along you two had a special connection. I thought that, with Elsa away and you just having a huge success as Regent, that maybe you wouldn't need her so much and that you and I could build on what we had." He shook his head again.

"Hey. It's not impossible."

"No, it kind of is."

"I thought you were raised by love experts."

He shrugged. "Well, that's the thing. It's hard to be a love expert for yourself. Much easier to see other people clearly. I mean, like you and your sister. Can't miss it. You have so much love to give her, and she loves you so much, and so deeply, it's..." He chuckled. "Man, if the two of you ever  _did_  get intimate like she wanted to, hoo boy! All bets are off. Kind of a good thing that'll never happen, I guess."

He expected her to scoff, or roll her eyes or give him one of her adorable awkward smiles, when he looked at her again. He wasn't expecting that guilty look as she bit her lip and turned away. "No way," he half-whispered.

She said nothing, simply twisting the edge of her skirt again.

"You did, didn't you."

"What? No!" said Anna, suddenly brightly animated again. "Me? And her? Like that? No! Of course not! I mean, that's just silly." She forced a laugh. "I mean who'd ever believe a thing like that, right? There you go with your crazy talk again. There's crazy ol' Kristoff, with his...crazy..."

He was surprised at himself, that he didn't want to use this to get back at her. But despite everything, she was still that sweet, clumsy girl he cared about, and he couldn't change that. He made room for her on the log and patted the space beside him. She hesitated, then came over and sat down, her shoulder pressing against his bicep.

"So," he said gently. "How'd it happen?"

"I, um. Do I have to talk about it?"

"Not if you don't want to, no."

She nodded, then stared into the fire. "I was feeling really hurt right after you – I mean, when I thought that you – Anyway, I was feeling like, well, first Hans playing me along and not really loving me, and then it looked like you didn't love me either, and I was feeling like nobody ever would. Love me. Like that, I mean. For real."

"You know that's not true."

"Well, that's how I felt." He nodded, and she continued. "And there was one person who I knew would always love me, and who loved me like  _that_ , and I just really needed someone to love me, you know? So I... I asked her to come to my room. And she was super slow and careful and stuff, and it felt really safe being with her, and good, and..."

"You know what? I don't really need to know all the details."

"Yeah."

"But you couldn't have waited a day or two?"

"But it really hurt, Kristoff. And I didn't know what to do."

"People survive getting their hearts broken, Anna. It does hurt, but we survive."

She turned to him, and put a hand on his arm. "I am  _so sorry,_  Kristoff."

He gave her a small smile. "I know." He sighed. "But I don't think you were really being fair to Elsa. I mean, even if she wanted to be there, you were still using her."

Anna gazed into the flames again. "Yeah, you're right. I guess you're right. I mean, at first, anyway. But it really did feel good. Not just the bedroom stuff. Being romantic with her. It felt super super good. And right." She pushed back a strand of hair. "I mean, until I found out she'd fallen in love with Ingrid."

"WHAT?"


	9. In The Cool Of The Night

It was peaceful in the castle, with everyone asleep except Ingrid. As she padded down the hallways, having completed her checks and preparations for the following morning, she was looking forward to slipping back into Elsa's bed. With a bedsheet between them, of course. Neither of them knew where they stood that evening, and while Ingrid didn't want to risk hurting Elsa or Anna, she did want to be there for her queen.

As Ingrid returned from the kitchen, making sure breakfast would be in order, she heard a voice calling her name. It was muffled, but it was saying, " _Ingrid. Ingrid._ " It seemed to be coming from the wine cellar. And it sounded like Elsa.

_Did I wake her? Is she worried about me? Is she all right?_  Ingrid entered the room and saw nothing but racks of bottles and shelves of supplies. But she heard the voice again, coming from behind a cabinet. "Elsa? Your Majesty? Where are you?"

" _Go to the cabinet. Lift the right side and pull it towards you._ "

She did so, and it moved heavily but easily, like a church door. Behind was a short flight of steps leading downward, making a right-angle turn halfway down. At the bottom was a stone room, with windows like letter-slots along the top of one wall. An iron bedframe rusted in the far corner.

And in the middle of the room was a monolith of dark blue-green ice, rough-sided, nearly reaching the ceiling. "Hello?" she said as she stepped gingerly forward.

The far side of the monolith was flat and smooth. For a moment it reminded her of the memorial stones for Elsa's parents. But there was no carving on the flat side. It was mirror-smooth. She saw her reflection, hands clasped in front of it, but then it flickered away.

In its place was a reflection of the queen, although not exactly. Her blonde hair was upswept and spiky. Her eyes had neither whites nor pupils, simply a blue-white snowflake pattern on each, but they crinkled as she smiled warmly at Ingrid. In Elsa's voice the reflection said, "Miss Andersen! What a pleasure to finally meet you. Elsa's told me so much about you. I must apologize for the informality of shouting 'Ingrid,' but I had to talk with you and shouting 'Miss Andersen' seemed oddly formal under the circumstances." Her hand hid her lips as she chuckled.

"Ma'am," said Ingrid, and curtseyed.

"You  _are_  a pretty little thing, in your own quiet way. I can see why Elsa's taken with you, Ingrid. May I call you 'Ingrid'?"

"As you wish." Ingrid's face remained placid as her mind raced. _Is this a dream? Am I already back in bed?_

"Thank you. And you may call me... Oh dear, I don't seem to have a name." The reflection put her palms together and touched her fingertips to her lips as she thought. "How about 'Frida'? That's a friendly-sounding name. And I do hope we can be friends, Ingrid, if that's not too forward." She smiled broadly again.

Ingrid gave a small nod. "I hope so, too." She swallowed, licked her dry lips. "I...don't believe we've met. Please forgive me, but may I ask who you are?"

"Oh, do you mind if I sit? I wish I could offer you a chair, but I can't really do anything on  _your_  side." Ingrid nodded her assent, and Frida conjured a chair of ice and sat down, one leg crossed over the other. "I'm, well, a lot like you, really. We exist to serve and comfort Her Majesty. In my case 'exist' is a bit more literal." Registering Ingrid's furrowed brow, she went on. "I'm being a bit oblique, aren't I? Well. Elsa comes down here to think now and again. She's been thinking a lot about you lately, you and Anna. And like many people, sometimes when she's introspective she talks to her reflection in the mirror. And she  _so_  needed someone to talk to that when she created this mirror, she created me."

Ingrid blinked. "She's been thinking about...me? Anna and...me?"

"More than you can imagine. The poor dear. She loves Anna, and you, and it's tearing her up inside. She keeps a brave face. She wouldn't want to burden either of you, she cares about you both so much. She couldn't talk to you and Anna  _about_  you and Anna. That'd be..." She pursed her lips. "Awkward. And hard for her to be honest for fear of hurting you. She's thoughtful and caring to a fault, isn't she? And so she has me to talk to."

Ingrid nodded. "I see."

"But who am I to talk to? I knew you'd be pacing around here – I'm Elsa's reflection, I know what she knows – and I really wanted to have a word. Will you... Will you help me to help her? Please?"

"Of course," said Ingrid.

"Of course," echoed the reflection, smiling contentedly. "Anything for our queen. The problem is simple. She loves you and Anna, and it hurts her to love both of you. But it's so hard for her to choose, for fear of hurting either of you." She conjured an ice crystal in her palm, fiddled with it thoughtfully, then tossed it aside. "I mean, her and Anna. They have so much in common. They're both royal-born and royal-raised. They've loved each other deeply, since childhood. They've been through so much together; the long isolation, the shipwreck that –  _you_  know – and the events of the coronation and after. Sisters, friends, colleagues, and now lovers. Can you imagine two people any closer than that?"

Ingrid shook her head.

"And then there's you. Her pet, her protege, her project. She must feel a lot of responsibility for you, since she made you who you are, practically single-handed. She gave you so much, and cares so much, so much invested in you. You're such an obligation. Oh, I mean that in a good way, of course."

Ingrid nodded, her eyes shining.

"And what did she have to work with? A sweet, hardworking, devoted, uneducated farm-girl. Meek where she's confident, quiet where she's outspoken. A born follower and a born leader. Not much alike at all. It must have been very...enlightening...for her to spend time with you." Frida paused to examine Ingrid's reaction. "It's all true, isn't it?"

"Yes," croaked Ingrid, then cleared her throat. "Yes, it is."

"And of course she must feel an obligation – I mean, a debt of gratitude – that you were there for her when she was estranged from her first great love. And that you could comfort her when she was longing for Anna. You would do anything for the Queen."

"I would."

"Always caring for her, always protecting her. Always wanting her to be happy, never wanting her to be hurt."

Ingrid nodded, sniffled. "I would do anything for her."

"I know, dear, I know. You have such a giving, loving spirit. Which makes it so ironic that because you let her fall in love with you, her heart's being torn in two." Frida put her hand against her side of the mirror, as if she wanted to touch Ingrid and comfort her. "And you're forcing her to choose."

"I... I never meant..."

"Of course not! And who could blame you? She is so beautiful and wise and kind, why wouldn't you want to have her to yourself, whether you were worthy of her or not? And how were you to know that she was about to finally, _finally_ have the consummation with Anna that she'd been longing for since...who knows how long?"

"I..." Ingrid shook her head, unable to speak.

"There, there. I know it's painful for her to be pulled in two directions like this, and even if you are the reason you can't blame yourself. You're just a pure, plain, simple girl from Lillefjord, doing your best. However it turns out."

"It... It doesn't have to be this way." Ingrid straightened her shoulders.

"What do you mean?"

"I can...make the choice simple for her. I can make her stop loving me."

Frida put her hand to her chest. "You would do that? For her?"

"Yes."

"It may hurt her at first, even if it is for the best."

Ingrid pondered, then nodded. "It's for the best."

Frida stood and stepped as close to Ingrid as she could. "I am so proud of you, Ingrid. You are a good and noble and devoted servant. I am so proud."

"Thank you."

"And I am so glad we had this little talk." Frida sighed deeply. "This is a huge weight off my mind. You have no idea how grateful I am. You are... I'll just say it again. I am so proud."

"Thank you." Ingrid curtseyed. "If you'll excuse me...?"

"Oh, of course. Of course. And I'm so happy to have met you. Good night."

Ingrid left, closing the secret door behind her. In her mind she was already making up the divan for bed.


	10. Before The Dawn

"Elsa fell in love with Ingrid? I mean full-on, out-loud, 'I'm in love with Ingrid' in love?" asked Kristoff.

"But I felt horrible when I found out," protested Anna. "I swear."

Kristoff stood up to pace. "Elsa's in love with Ingrid?" he asked.

"Mm-hmm," said Anna, her lips pressed together.

"And she was when she came to your bedroom?"

Anna nodded once.

"And did...what she did. What you asked her to do."

Another small nod from Anna.

"What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking you cheated on me."

"No, what were you really thinking?"

She pointed a finger at him indignantly. " _I was thinking_  – " Her hand dropped back into her lap. Quieter, she continued. "I was thinking that Hans didn't really want me, and you didn't really want me, and maybe nobody would ever really want me. Except Elsa. Maybe." She looked up at him again. "And I needed to feel like  _somebody_  could love me. That way."

"But how could she do that? No, forget that. How could you let her do that?"

"I said I didn't know!" said Anna. "I mean, I wouldn't do that to her. Not if I knew."

"Are you sure? You wouldn't have said, 'To heck with everybody, I'm hurting and I need her to make me feel better about myself.' Because you know she would. Hell, she did."

Anna crossed her arms. "I would  _never_  do that to Elsa. Or Ingrid, either."

"And you're sure you didn't know?"

"She didn't say anything."

Kristoff huffed at her. "That's not the same thing."

"Well, I think it's the sort of thing she'd mention," said Anna indignantly. Then she uncrossed her arms. "Come to think of it, she did seem like she was about to tell me something. Until I mentioned you and I were, you know, having trouble. And she and Ingrid seemed closer than usual, which I figured was because of the adventures they had together. And she seemed a little less...touchy. Not moody-touchy, I mean less, um, tactile." She put a hand to her mouth. "Oh my god, I should've known. Maybe I did know. Could I know, without knowing it? Okay, that just doesn't make sense. Does it?"

"Slow down, Anna." Kristoff held out his hands placatingly. "I'm sorry, I'm still feeling a bit rejected myself, right now. I think we can give you a pass on that one. For now, at least." He frowned. "How was Elsa when you left?"

"Fine, I guess."

"You guess? What did you say to her?"

"Well, when she explained about how you were probably proposing, which you were, I told her I had to find you and apologize, and make things right, and see if you'd take me back."

Kristoff looked at her. "Anything else?"

"Anything else what?"

"Did you talk about what this would mean about what happened between you and her? Did you talk about whether you still felt..." He shrugged. "...romantic about her? About how she would feel about having you yanked away from her, after being in love with you for so long and finally having you loving her back?"

"Well, I..." Anna thought. Her face fell. "But I just wanted to make things right."

Kristoff just looked at her again.

"Oh no," she said. "Kristoff? Do you think I, kind of, broke her heart a little?"

He shook his head ruefully. "Little bit, yeah."

"And...Ingrid?"

His level gaze stayed on her. Not chastising, but holding her accountable. "How did  _she_ take it?"

"Like, well, like Ingrid. She wanted Elsa to be happy, and she figured she'd be happier with me, and she did seem happy – Elsa I mean – until she told me about Ingrid, and – oh, Kristoff, I'm so confused now."

Kristoff stepped away to talk with Sven. " 'Propose to Anna,' you said. 'There'll never be a better time,' you said. 'What could go wrong?' you said." He scoffed. "What could go wrong."

He sat on the log again, straddling it so that he could face Anna. "A lot of guys get nervous when they propose. But there was one extra reason I was nervous. I knew – know – your situation with Elsa is, um, complicated. I thought if we were engaged, with that sort of commitment, that you could see us as a permanent thing, something solid. Something we could build our life around. That it could seal off our relationship from the stuff between you and your sister. But I was afraid I might be wrong about that. Looks like I was, even more than I thought." He saw the pain in her eyes, and took her hands in his as he answered the question she couldn't bring herself to ask. "I do love you, Anna. I always will. But sometimes, even if people love each other, they're not meant to be together."

"You...don't want to see me again?" She took a breath and put on a brave face. "That's all right. I understand."

"No!" said Kristoff, holding her hands tighter. "I want to see you, and be your friend. And maybe some day, if your complicated relationship with Elsa stops getting more complicated and gets  _un_ -complicated, we can see. If that ever happens. But I don't think we should be together right now. That's all."

Her shoulders slumped. "I'm a bad person, aren't I."

"You're a good person who's done some – not bad, exactly – some unwise things."

"It's because I 'follow my heart'."

"No, it's because you don't. Sometimes you feel like you have to fix everything, and you do what you think you're _supposed_ to do instead of what your heart tells you to do. You have to trust yourself more, and not try so hard. I mean, sometimes you jump in, no hesitation, and it's exactly the right thing, and that's what makes you Anna. But if you do it because you're afraid and panicking, instead of compelled by what you know in your heart, that's when the wheels fall off the wagon." She stared at him, confused. "It's complicated. Grand Pabbie could explain it better. Sorry."

"So I'm not a bad person?" she said, and sniffled.

"No. Maybe a little bit. But not much." He held up his thumb and finger, with a tiny gap between.

"And you do still like me? A little?"

He held up his thumb and finger again. She swatted him on the arm. "Okay, okay," he said. He shrugged, and opened his arms to her.

"May I?" she asked. "That is..."

He nodded, and she threw herself into his arms, which closed around her in a warm hug. She felt his chest rise and fall as he sighed regretfully.

"Oh, Kristoff," she said, her face pressing against his chest. "what am I going to do?"

"You're going to ride back down to your sister, and her...Ingrid, and you're going to find out what you all really feel, and figure out where it goes from there. And I'm going to stay up here."

"You're not coming down with me?"

"No. I thought I could deal with all your human business. But I can't. Not like this."

"Human business?" Anna's brow furrowed. "But you're human."

"By birth. My family are trolls. Before that I was in an orphanage. I'm not complaining. I'm luckier than some. But that's no way to grow up like a normal human."

"But you said you wanted to be friends. You said you still love me."

"I do. But I also said that sometimes, even if people love each other, they might not be meant to be together. Now blow your nose." He held out a large handkerchief, which she took and used gratefully.

"I must say, no offence, but that's a really clean hankie."

"Well," said Kristoff with a shrug, "it's not like I ever use it."

"Eww." She tried to look appalled but couldn't help smiling.

* * *

It was a long, quiet ride home, with only the clop-clop of Flamme's hooves for company. Anna let the rhythm of the horse lull her into half-sleep, and wordlessly absorbed all that she'd been through, waiting for it to settle into something she could deal with. When Anna returned it was still the silent small hours of the morning. She walked the empty hallways of the castle, her candle the only illumination. It felt like a stage set after the play is over, with the actors gone and the house lights out. Strange and unsettling in its unfamiliar familiarity.  _So this is what it's like for Ingrid, when she's up in the middle of the night._  Anna was grateful for the calm.  _I can see why she likes it_.

And then the silence was was broken by a muffled voice. " _Anna? Are you there? Is that you?"_

"Elsa?" The voice seemed to be coming from the wine cellar. Anna couldn't imagine what Elsa would be doing there, let alone at this time of the night. "Is that you? Are you all right?"

"Just follow my voice. I'd like to talk."

Anna followed the voice and its instructions on opening the hidden door. In the lone light of her candle an icy monolith glittered and sparkled. She stepped around to the front and saw Elsa behind the polished surface, except different. "Are...you're not Elsa. Are you?"

"No. You can call me Frida." She smiled. Her eyes, each orb covered with a snowflake sigil, were as warm as their icy surface would allow.

"What are you doing here? Why are you here? Who are you?"

"Well... First, would you like to sit down? I'm afraid I can't offer a chair, but I'm game for sitting on the floor if you are."

"Um, sure, I guess." As Frida sat on her heels, Anna sat campfire-style. Tucking her skirt in reminded her of doing the same earlier that night, with Kristoff.

"First off, I have to say that Elsa's told me so much about you – all good things, all good things – and it's such a pleasure to finally meet you. Which, really, is why I'm here. Elsa needed someone to talk to. And by the looks of things, you could use someone to talk to, too. I mean, 'talk to, as well'." She smiled self-deprecatingly.

"But why couldn't she talk to me? I thought we could talk about anything."

"Of course you can," said Frida, leaning forward. "Normally. But it's awkward to talk  _to_  you  _about_  you, now that things have become so – how shall I put this – entangled. You and Ingrid, that is."

"That's exactly the sort of thing we need to talk about! 'Her and me'-we, not 'you and me'-we."

"And I'm sure she will. Once she has things straight in her own mind. But you have to understand, it's all very confusing for her. She's torn. First she falls in love with Ingrid, to everyone's surprise including hers. Then you make her sleep with you."

"I didn't exactly – "

"No. She was willing, definitely. And how could she say no to you? But now she feels like she has to choose between the two of you." Frida sighed, then waved away the topic. "But never mind that. How are  _you_  doing? Did you get to talk to Kristoff? Did he take you back?"

Anna wrung her hands in her lap. "Mmm, not exactly."

"Oh, no." Frida's mouth was a perfect O of concern.

"I mean, he still likes me. And he says he still loves me. But he says he can't be with me right now. Not until me and Els– until Elsa and I and Ingrid get un-entangled." Frida nodded solemnly. "He says that sometimes people can be in love and not be meant to be together."

"He's very wise, sometimes." Then Frida smirked. "Did he say it, or did Sven?" They chuckled. "From what I hear, Sven's the smart one."

"Yeah." Anna sighed. "No, it was all Kristoff. Unless he got it from Grand Pabbie."

"Ah, the love expert."

Anna shrugged. "Maybe it's just as well. Kristoff said I kind of broke Elsa's heart, probably, when I ran off to try to be with him. Also he doubted I really did want to be with him. It's all so confusing."

"Yes, I understand. A couple of confused sisters."

"I guess."

"Of course," said Frida, looking off thoughtfully, "it would've been simpler if he had taken you back. Now Elsa has to choose between you and Ingrid. And she knows whoever she chooses, the other one will be hurt. And that'll hurt her. She's so loving, it's sad that it should hurt her like that."

"Yeah." Anna bobbed her head in agreement.

"I mean, look at how much she loves you. She would risk everything to be with you. And does."

"And does?" Anna tilted her head.

"Well, you're her sister." Frida sat up straight. "If people found out about her and Ingrid, it would be a scandal, but hardly unprecedented. The master and the maid? Or mistress, rather? Practically a cliché. A delicious frisson. And other French words."

Anna smiled at the comment.

"But _incest?_ " Anna's smile became a wince as Frida said the word out loud, the word that had hovered unspoken for so long. "How many people would turn against her? The church, definitely. Other nations, certainly. The people? They love her, but there are limits. Risking her crown, her people, her good name and honour, everything she accomplished. All for the love of a single girl. Now  _that's_  true love."

Anna's voice was as dull as raw clay. "Yep. That's love all right."

"A grand, epic love, that will echo down through the halls of history. Pity about Ingrid, though."

"Yeah. Ingrid."

"After all, they have so much in common. What did you say, all that time ago? They like each other. They get along with each other. They're both obsessed with doing the right thing. They both talk like they've swallowed a textbook. And when Ingrid's face isn't pointed at the floor she's very pretty. And she's not pointing her face at the floor so much these days."

"Hang on, Elsa told you that?"

"I'm her reflection. What she knows, I know. But you had a point. Serious. Reserved. They're a lot alike. Certainly not like you and Elsa. But...I guess that's what makes it exciting?"

The weight of her emotions and of overdue sleep were weighing down Anna like a heavy greatcoat.

"Besides, Ingrid won't mind. She doesn't mind anything. Lose her brother, lose her queen, never complain. I'm sure she'll find someone of her own. Eventually." Frida folded her hands and touched her fingertips to her lips. "Then again, she's never going to leave the castle if she can help it. Rest of her days, probably." Her hands returned to her sides. "Gerda never married, did she." Frida leaned forward, examining Anna. "But look at you! Up late, worn out from a long ride, and here I am talking your ear off. You'd better get some sleep. I'm sure everything'll look much clearer in the morning. Right?" She smiled. "Or early afternoon, at least."

"Sure. G'night."

As Anna stood up, Frida did the same, brushing smooth her ice dress. "Sleep well." She put her finger to her lips. "What was that think Kristoff said? 'If people were meant to be together,' or something?"

Anna shook her head sleepily. "No, it's 'even if people love each other, they might not be meant to be together'."

"Right. Thanks. Good night. Come back anytime." Frida smiled as she heard Anna's steps fading behind her.


	11. Pastorale

_I'm going to tell her,_ said Ingrid to herself as she puttered around in Elsa's outer rooms, re-straightening her papers for the day, picking things up and setting them back down.  _She will come out of her bedroom, and I will talk to her and make her stop loving me. And she can be happy with Anna. Today. This morning. I will tell her._ Ingrid straightened her shoulders.

Elsa came out of her bedroom, yawning and stretching, her silk nightdress following the contours of her body as closely as Ingrid's eyes did. "Good morning, Ingrid. I missed you in bed," she said, smiling. Ingrid made a staccato curtsey, and Elsa kissed her forehead before sitting at the vanity and waiting to have her hair brushed and braided. "If you want to sleep in some morning with me, I wouldn't mind." She smiled again, making eye contact with Ingrid's reflection in the mirror.

Ingrid paused. "I…" She resumed brushing. "I hope you're well this morning."

"I'm fine, thanks. Tired, but fine."

"You could go back to bed, if you like. I can arrange – "

"Not that kind of tired," Elsa said with a sigh. "Things have been, um, intense lately. Thank god you're here for me. You're a comfort."

Ingrid dipped her head. "Thank you."  _I have to tell her –_

"I don't need sleep. What I need is…calm. Relaxation." Ingrid's hand paused on her shoulder, and Elsa placed hers on top.

_I_ _ **will**_ _tell her._ Ingrid felt the gentleness of Elsa's hand on hers. _But not right now._  "Did you have anything in mind?"

Elsa's hand left Ingrid's as she waved vaguely. "Go someplace peaceful. Outside. Mmm, maybe a picnic?" Holding her head still as Ingrid braided and arranged her hair, Elsa met her eyes in the mirror again. "Ingrid, how soon could you arrange a picnic?"

"Oh dear. Not for a while." She wrapped Elsa's braid around her head and tucked the end in place. "Not until, oh, one o'clock."

Elsa turned to face her. "Today?"

Ingrid stared out the window, running through the notes in her head. "If your meeting with the councillors stays on schedule, and no one gets the Councillor Of The Exchequer excited – " they shared a wry smile " – then we can move the visiting dignitaries from the afternoon reception to dinner. I'm sure they'd be flattered. If you don't mind, of course."

"That'd be perfect."

As Ingrid dressed Elsa for the day, she added, "I'm afraid Anna won't be joining you for breakfast. She got in very late last night."

Elsa put her hand on Ingrid's arm. "She found Kristoff? How is she doing?"

"I couldn't say. She went straight to bed, as far as I know." It was Ingrid's turn to put her hand on Elsa's. "I'm sure she's fine. She's strong. And I'm sure she'll be awake in time for your picnic."

Elsa smiled gratefully.

* * *

_Be strong,_ Anna said to herself as she rubbed her eyes and poured herself another cup of tea. She waited in her outer room for Elsa to fetch her for a surprise picnic. _Okay, I'm definitely telling her. The minute she gets here. She's gonna want to comfort me over the Kristoff thing but I had that coming. So I just have to tell her I need to be on my own, and she can get back with Ingrid and everything'll be fine._

_Eventually._

There was a tapping at the door. "Is that you Ingrid? Come in." Anna stood to meet Ingrid, but Elsa came through the door first.

"Oh, Anna, are you all right? How are you doing?" She gripped Anna by the arms.

"I'm fine, really."

"And Kristoff?"

"Pretty good, all things considered."

"And the two of you?"

"He, um, he's staying up on the mountain for now. He's not angry – he wants to stay friends,  _just_  friends for now, and I think he means it – but he needs to be by himself for a while. And about that…"

"Are you all right for going on a picnic? Ingrid talked to you about it?"

"Of course." Anna saw a trace of something in Elsa's eyes, the same desperate joy she had on that birthday with the sneezing and the cough syrup and the snowgies. "It's  _okay_ , Elsa. Really, everything's okay."

Elsa dropped her arms. Anxiety had crept up on her as she waited to get through the morning. "I just wanted – "

" – to make it a perfect day?"

They chuckled, and some of the tension drained away. "I wanted a chance to get outside and relax. Blue sky, green grass. A chance to breathe for a minute. I need it. I think we both need it." She nodded at Ingrid, standing dutifully behind her. "We all do."

"So, a picnic. Awesome. Where to?" said Anna.

Elsa shrugged. "I don't know. I was thinking the city park, although it'd be nice to have a little more privacy."

"I know the perfect spot. There's a clearing in the woods a half-mile past the main road. I don't think anyone goes there. I loved it last time I was there."

Elsa gazed gratefully into Anna's eyes. "Well, if you love it, I'm sure it must be – "

" – perfect!" they said in unison, and laughed.

"Jinx!" said Anna, and they linked pinkies.

Ingrid held the door as Elsa took Anna's arm and they left the room. "Are you sure you're all right?" asked Elsa.

"Of course I am," said Anna. "I'm with you." She walked happily along, Ingrid on Elsa's other side, when she suddenly remembered.  _Damn! I didn't say… Well, she's right. She needs this. I'm not going to spoil it for her. Or for Ingrid. Or for me. We all need a break. Later we can straighten things out._

_Maybe I'll ask Ingrid to remind me._ She stuffed down the sarcastic thought and kept a smile on her face.

* * *

Elsa and Ingrid followed Anna through the woods. Elsa wore a light blue summer dress and transformed her shoes from heels to flats to walk through the spongy layer of leaves and pine needles underfoot. Ingrid, her white apron flashing as it appeared and disappeared behind the basket she was carrying, was beside and a little behind her. Breathing a bit heavily from the exertion, Ingrid said, "Well, we did make good time getting here."

"We certainly did." Elsa smoothed her windblown hair. "Why did I let Anna drive the carriage again?"

"I couldn't say, but I think because she knew where we were going. And because it made her happy." Ingrid shifted her grip on the basket. "It may also be possible, if you'll forgive my speculating, that you like going fast?"

Elsa chuckled. "What gave me away?"

"I think the whooping."

The woods lightened as they reached the edge of the trees. "Well, I found it," said Anna. "But it's…not quite the way I remember." Anna's green summer dress complemented the yellow-green of the wild grass that had grown chest-high in the clearing. "It may have been a little while since I was here last. But  _hey_ , no problem." Anna held her arms up and forced her way through the grass, tramping down a narrow corridor for a couple of yards. " 'Hay', get it?" With a grunt she pushed forwards again until Elsa stopped her.

"It's all right, Anna," she said. "We'll…" She looked around the overgrown field, searching for an idea.

"I have an idea," said Ingrid, "but I'd need some help."

"I'm up for it," said Anna.

Ingrid scuffed her toe in the half-decayed leaves. "Not that kind of help." She looked up at Elsa. "If I had a long branch, with a blade…" Her voice lowered. "… _of ice_ …" She swallowed. "I could scythe a path for us. I did that on the farm, a little. If, that is, you would…?"

"It's a good idea, but I think I have a better one. If you'd both stand behind me…" Elsa faced the field as Anna and Ingrid looked over her shoulder. "Farther back, please." They backed up. Elsa looked over her shoulder. "A little farther. Just to be safe." They backed a few more yards away.

Elsa sat on her heels, looked thoughtful, then chopped her hand sideways, near the ground. A sizzling ripple of light shot forward across the clearing, illuminating the grass from below, accompanied by a crackling sound. She stood and waved her hand. A chill breeze flattened the wild grass, toppling it flat.

Elsa exhaled as Anna and Ingrid came forward. Anna picked up a stalk of grass and examined how it had been frozen through near the base, where it had snapped cleanly. "If you ever need a second career, you can fall back on farming." She chewed on the grass stem. "Best be harvesting the north forty, ma'am. S'pose it'll take 'bout a minute and a half."

Elsa chewed on a grass stalk, too. "Looks like a good crop of winter wheat this year, I s'pose."

Ingrid put her fists on her hips. " _Du_ , don't just stand there like a couple of fenceposts, get that there hay there spread for drying! Day's half gone and we have to get this dry b'fore we bale it! If the goat gets sick from eating rotted hay again it's not  _me_  who'll clean it up, I tell you that for sure, there."

Elsa and Anna stared at her.

Ingrid's hands left her hips to fold together behind her back. "I…thought…we were talking like farmers? Like…papa?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry," said Elsa. "We didn't mean anything by it. Anna and I were just–"

"Did he really talk like that?" said Anna. "And did the goat  _really_ –"

"Ingrid, I apologize. We meant no disrespect. And…" She glared meaningfully at Anna. "…I think any stories about dyspeptic goats can wait until after lunch.  _Well_  after lunch."

"Oh, no offence taken," said Ingrid. "My sisters pretended to be princesses. It's only fair." She leaned towards Anna and quietly added, "And yes to both questions."

They walked across the meadow, Elsa's breeze blowing a path clear for them as they enjoyed the sun and the smell of fresh-mown grass.

They paused in a flat spot in the middle of the field, Elsa saying, "This looks like as good a spot as any." The other two nodded their agreement.

Ingrid set down the basket gently. "I can spread a blanket on the grass," she said quietly to Elsa, "unless you'd prefer to, um,  _produce_  a table and chairs…?"

"On the grass will be fine, Ingrid. Unless you'd prefer?" Ingrid shook her head. "It's hardly a picnic otherwise, is it?"

Ingrid nodded and laid out the picnic. Anna had already started gathering wildflowers, and Elsa went to join her. Ingrid glanced at them as she worked, watching Elsa gently lay her hand on Anna's arm, then Anna suddenly giving Elsa a one-armed hug, her other arm too full of flowers. They touched foreheads, laughing and smiling as they shared endearments too private for Ingrid to catch. She smiled as she worked.

Ingrid stood as the Queen and Princess returned to their picnic site. "We brought the centrepiece," said Anna, presenting the multicoloured bundle of flowers she and Elsa had gathered. "I…may have overdone it a little."

"Oh no, not at all," said Ingrid, scanning the food laid out on the blanket and calculating how to rearrange it.

As she moved jars and bowls around, Elsa said, "Let me help you with that." She arranged the flowers in a basket-weave vase of clear ice which towered in the middle of the "table".

Elsa and Anna sat down. Anna looked up at their dutiful servant. "Well, don't just stand there like a fencepost, Ingrid," she said, grinning. "Sit down and dig in." Elsa nodded her assent, and Ingrid took a place on the blanket.

"The flowers are very pretty," said Ingrid, as she caught Elsa looking at them with a soft frown.

Elsa grabbed the vase and put it behind her on the open grass. "Not as pretty as you two. There. Now I can see you properly." She smiled a Mona Lisa smile as she watched the two young women get flustered, Anna grinning as she pretended to object, Ingrid looking down shyly then raising her eyes. Then Anna caught Ingrid's eye and gave her a look that said, _Check out the smooth-talking romantic over there,_  nodding at Elsa. Ingrid replied with a tiny nod of recognition. Elsa's hand covered her smile.

They began with the fruit course. The royal sisters loaded their plates with cut pieces of fresh fruit. Ingrid looked over the selection, speared a slice of apple with her fork, and transferred it to her plate.

"Please, Ingrid. Help yourself," said Elsa.

"Yeah, don't be shy," added Anna, through a mouthful of grapes. "Well, don't be  _as_  shy.'' She turned to Elsa. "She  _is_  Ingrid, after all." She turned back to smile at Ingrid, to let her know she was just teasing.

Ingrid took a bite of the apple slice and chewed thoughtfully. "Oh, I see," she said to herself.

" _Oh?_ " said Elsa, raising an eyebrow.

"It's not important," said Ingrid.

"Well you can't just leave it at that, Ingrid," said Anna. "See what?"

"There was a sour apple tree on our farm. I never thought why they were called  _sour_  apples." She held up the morsel remaining on her fork. "Other apples are like  _this_."

Elsa's brow furrowed. "You've never had an apple before? Except sour apples?"

Ingrid chewed and swallowed. "Not raw."

"Raw?" asked Anna. "You mean, fresh?"

"I suppose so," said Ingrid. "Mama bought preserves, sometimes, or traded for them."

Anna blinked. "You've never, in the kitchens, snuck a piece of…" Catching Elsa's warning look, she turned her question into a statement. "…fruit, of course, because you would never do a thing like that."

Elsa leaned forward and gently asked, "Have you never had fresh fruit at all?"

"We're not poor!" said Ingrid as she sat up indignantly. "I had a piece of orange once, for Christmas."

Elsa and Anna shared a look, first of surprise, then anticipation. They scooted towards Ingrid, who leaned back but stood her ground.

"Well, we have to do something about this, don't we?" asked Anna.

"Of course. It's our duty," replied Elsa, with a slowly blossoming grin. They heaped Ingrid's plate with a sampling of all the fruits they had brought.

"Not a lot of orchards in Lillefjord, I suppose?" said Anna.

"Not a lot of orchards in Arendelle," said Elsa, "as you'd know if you read the reports on agricultural exports and imports."

Anna rolled her eyes and turned to Ingrid. "You're gonna love this. Okay, this is a cherry," said Anna, showing one to Ingrid.

"She knows what it is, Anna. She just hasn't had one before."

"Open," ordered Anna, and tossed one into Ingrid's mouth, then popped a couple into her own.

"Mmmf," said Ingrid as she discovered the unfamiliar flavours. "It's very, um…"

"It is, isn't it?" said Anna, slightly muffled by the cherry pits in her mouth.

Ingrid chewed thoughtfully, savouring the new experience. She swallowed, then leaned towards Elsa, her voice low, her eyes wide. "I don't know what one does with the pit."

Elsa smiled and patted her knee. "You bring your napkin to your mouth, and—"

— _phtoo_ — Anna fired a cherry stone in a majestic arc, ending a few yards away and vanishing in the grass.

"— _ **if**_ one is not in the middle of a field and returning to a state of nature—" Elsa tried to look stern at Anna, who shrugged and made a  _who me?_ expression, one cheek bulging slightly with her remaining cherries. "—you wipe your mouth with your napkin and discreetly deposit the stone in it."

Ingrid looked back and forth between Elsa and Anna, her brow furrowed. She hid her mouth with her napkin, paused, then — _phtoo_ — fired the pit off to the side from behind the napkin where it quietly disappeared. Anna gave Ingrid's shoulder a playful nudge as Elsa raised her eyebrows, her mouth quirking. "I didn't want to stain the napkin," said Ingrid. "It sets. And as you said, we  _are_  in a field."

Elsa and Anna shared a look, then a laugh, Elsa patting Ingrid's knee again to reassure her.

Anna watched Elsa feeding a segment of mandarin orange to Ingrid, seeing Ingrid's eyes widen at the burst of sweet tangy juice in her mouth, hearing the moan of surprise and pleasure, seeing Elsa's pride and delight at Ingrid's discovery. And yet, she had a sudden urge to shove herself between them and have Elsa feed sweet pieces of fruit to  _her_ , to have Elsa look at her that way.  _Hey, girlie, she's_ _ **my**_ _sister – or lover – or whatever._  She set down her plate and put her hands behind her back to keep herself from doing something stupid.  _Stop it, idiot. Look at how happy Elsa is, being the big sister again. She loves you, but you're too old and seen too much. There's nothing left for her to teach you. Not like that, anyway. Ingrid can be her little sister_ _ **and**_ _her lover, and it won't be sick or weird or dangerous. It'd be a scandal if it got out, but no one would call her an abomination._

Anna's stillness caught Elsa's eye. "Anna, you look so serious."

Anna grinned convincingly. "No big deal. I was caught up watching Mama Bird feed Baby Bird. Very ornithological." She made a show of resting her head on her hand and observing them. "Go on, don't let me stop you."

Elsa smiled, fondly shook her head, and turned back to Ingrid. Anna sighed softly as Elsa offered Ingrid a bite of pineapple. Elsa saw Ingrid's hesitation. "What is it?"

Fresh fruit wasn't common in Arendelle, but pineapples were practically mythical. There probably weren't more than half a dozen of them in the country at the time. "It's too good," said Ingrid. "You'll spoil me."

Elsa gave her a bemused smile. "She's afraid we're going to spoil her, Anna."

"We've got to spoil somebody, I suppose, and she's here." Anna popped a morsel of pineapple into her own mouth to encourage the timid maid.

Ingrid took the bright yellow delicacy from Elsa's fingertips. She closed her eyes as she bit down. "Mmmm." Her mouth watered at the taste. "Oh my goodness! This is delicious." She luxuriated in the exotic flavour. "It's tangy, but sweet. And…different. It reminds me of something…"

"Of what?" said Anna.

"Of…" Ingrid stared thoughtfully into the distance, then her eyes widened. "Oh!" She dropped her head, blushing, peeping at Elsa through the stray strands of hair falling from her forehead.

"Of what? Come on," said Anna.

"Begging Your Highness' pardon, ma'am, but I'd rather not say," muttered Ingrid.

Anna's eyes darted from Ingrid's mortified expression to Elsa's shocked, then wickedly amused, one. "What? What…ohhh." Anna rocked with laughter.

"Anna! Don't be mean!" said Elsa, sputtering with her own restrained laughter. Ingrid, meanwhile, had covered her face in her hands, peeping through her fingers at Elsa for reassurance. "It's okay, Ingrid."

Anna forced herself to recover her composure.  _N_ _ot so much "what" as "whom," Ingrid?_  "Well, let's just, um, move on to, um…" She looked for a blander, less controversial fruit. She nearly reached for the banana before catching herself. She placed a slice of pear on Ingrid's plate. "Here. A nice palate cleanser before the next…whatever." Ingrid accepted it gratefully.


	12. The Queen And Her Subjects

After lunch, Ingrid packed the leftovers back into the basket and Elsa and Anna lay back on the blanket to stare at the clouds.

"Everything packed?" asked Elsa.

Ingrid nodded.

Elsa waved a hand nonchalantly, and with a  _flump_  the basket was buried in snow. Ingrid giggled in surprise. "That should keep it until we go home. Now lie down with us and watch the clouds."

Elsa watched the soft clouds drift across the sky. On her right, Anna took her hand, fingers interlaced, giving her a reassuring squeeze. On her left Ingrid let the back of her hand press against Elsa's, waiting for her hand to be taken.  _I know I have to make a decision, and I do care about both of them, and it's been tormenting me. But right now in this field, on this blanket, with the sound of crickets and the smell of grass and the brilliant blue sky,_ _it doesn't feel urgent at all_ _._  She sighed contentedly. _I love how peaceful this is. It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small. I haven't felt this calm since...well, since I was a snowcloud. It was a huge relief, being detached from my problems. But it wasn't real. Now I can have what I had then and not lose anything, still enjoy_ _ing_ _the sun on my face_ _and the feeling of being loved_ _._

"Whatcha thinking about, Elsa?" asked Anna.

"Just remembering how nice it was to be a snowcloud."

Ingrid held Elsa's hand firmly as Anna propped herself up and gripped Elsa's arm. "Elsa? Is anything the matter?" asked Anna.

"Oh no, nothing like that." She turned from the stricken look in Anna's eyes to the wounded look in Ingrid's. "It's all right. It was peaceful then, but this is better. This is real. Being here with you. With both of you." Anna and Ingrid both kept their grip on her, as if tethering Elsa to the earth. "It's  _all right,_  really. I was just thinking. Honestly, I'm okay."

Anna lay down again. "So, Ingrid," she blurted after an awkward pause, "what do  _you_  see in the clouds?"

"Good day for laundry."

Anna let her head hit the blanket with a soft thud and a sigh of dissatisfaction. "Am I the only one who sees a Chinese dragon looking at a pair of socks?" She waited for recognition. "In the clouds? That big one is a dragon facing left, resting his head on his paws."

"Yes," said Elsa. "And that long wisp is his eyebrow."

"Exactly."

"I see Anna's pile of stockings," added Ingrid.

"I bet you do," said Elsa, suppressing a snort of laughter. "In a pile on the floor."

"Now just a second," said Anna, raising her head. "What do you two mean by that?"

"Nothing," said Elsa, smirking.

"Just that I saw the stockings Your Highness saw," said Ingrid, wide-eyed. "In the clouds." She pointed with her free hand.

"See? She didn't mean anything by it," said Elsa. Then quieter, "but she wouldn't be far wrong if she did."

Anna sat up to pull a daisy from the ice vase and smacked Elsa with it in play-outrage. "Meanie."

As Elsa snickered and pretended to protect her face with her arm, Anna fiddled restlessly with the flowers. "I wish I could make a flower crown out of these."

Elsa and Ingrid sat up to join her. "You'd need more," said Ingrid.

Anna and Ingrid looked at each other in mutual incomprehension. "You know how to make a flower crown?" asked Anna.

_You don't?_  replied Ingrid's puzzled and slightly embarrassed expression.

"The only flowers we saw growing up were in the Royal Garden, or in arrangements," explained Elsa. "We didn't play outside much, or..."

Ingrid looked away, embarrassed at reminding them of the past. "It's okay, Ingy," said Anna. "You can show me how. No time like the present, right?"

Ingrid nodded. "It's just braiding," she muttered, still not quite able to meet Anna's eyes.

"Good, then I'm halfway there." Anna gave a quick beseeching glance at Elsa, looking for advice on How To Train Your Ingrid, but Elsa just gave her a confident smile and stood up.

"I'll gather some more flowers," said Elsa, "and you two can get started." She gave each of them a quick kiss on the top of the head, and went to gather wildflowers.

"How's this?" Elsa heard as she walked away, with Anna braiding and Ingrid stripping the leaves off stems.

"Quite good." A pause. "It would be even better if all the blooms were facing the same way."

"Oh, of course."

"Of course. And..."

"What is it, Ingrid?"

"Nothing...except it may be easier to join up the ends if the first bit of braiding isn't too tight. If you like."

"Ingrid, you can just, y'know, say stuff. Now show me what you mean."

* * *

Elsa walked along the perimeter of the meadow, gathering flowers and giving the two girls some space to manage on their own. She smiled fondly at them.

She listened to the birdsong, smelled the fresh-cut grass and earthy undertones of forest floor. The meadow to her right was bright yellow-green in the clear sunlight, the woods to her left dappled in light and shadow. Going out for fresh air had always been a figure of speech to her – for so much of her life "outside" was the castle courtyard – but now she inhaled deep lungfuls of the air, as refreshed by the calm as by the oxygen. She saw a wild rabbit sitting on its hind legs not twenty feet from her. She stood still, not to scare it off. They stood motionless for a long minute, staring at each other. "Hello, rabbit," she said softly. "Hello little rabbit." After a quiet pause, she started to move slowly towards it, but the moment she lifted her foot it dashed for the woods and vanished. She felt disappointed, but blessed.

Elsa picked up an alpine milkvetch. A bee, still perched on one of its purple blossoms, startled her. She chilled it just enough to make it dormant and flicked it off the flower. It warmed in the sun for a minute until it revived, then flew away confusedly.  _It's okay._ _Good_ _._

She glanced at Anna and Ingrid again, seeing if they were all right, seeing if they were having fun. She was too far to hear what they said, but they looked like they were working well together; Anna bent over her braiding and Ingrid over her leaf-stripping, each one occasionally offering or asking the other for help. Then Anna straightened up. Even from that distance Elsa could've sworn she saw the glint of mischief in her eye.

Anna picked up the pile of spare leaves and dumped them on Ingrid's head. To Anna's dismay, and Elsa's, Ingrid didn't react. She sat frozen for a moment, then looked up at Anna in paralyzed confusion. Elsa knew that Anna was just playing, but she also knew that to Ingrid, even on a picnic, Anna was royalty and she was a servant, and protocol left her no way to respond. Elsa couldn't hear Anna's desperate apologies, but she could see from Anna's frantic gestures and nervous grinning that's what they were. Anna brushed and plucked the leaves off Ingrid, making the girl flinch with every touch. Elsa headed back to them, wanting to run but not wanting to make the situation any more fraught than it already was. By the time she was halfway to them, they had already returned to their tasks, Anna's shoulders visibly slumped.

Elsa hadn't heard their conversation but she definitely heard the " **WHOOOOP!** " as Anna suddenly jumped up, flailing her arms frantically and hopping like a rubber ball. Elsa ran to her.

"YOU!" said Anna, pointing accusingly at Elsa. "You two were in on this together!"

"On what?" asked Elsa, genuinely confused.

" _Ahhh! Whooo!_ " Anna grabbed her collar at the back and shook it. "She dumped snow down my back!" Ingrid had the decency to look abashed as Elsa hid her snickers behind her hand. "You just  _happen_  to make a pile of snow and you just  _happen_  to leave me alone with... _her_. It's a conspiracy."

Ingrid's expression was unreadable as she kept her eyes on her work. "To be fair," said Elsa, "you  _did_  dump a bunch of leaves on her."

"I was just...I mean she was...and I...well...oooh!" Anna sat down again, fuming as her indignation melted under the heat of her embarrassment and guilt.

She turned to Ingrid. "So. I'm sorry for the leaves."

"And I'm very sorry for the snow, ma'am."

"Even?"

Ingrid glanced to Elsa, who nodded her approval. "Even." Anna reached out for a handshake, and Ingrid returned it.

As Elsa sat down, Anna touched her knee to get her attention. "I  _am_  sorry, Elsa. I didn't mean anything by it. I was just trying to be funny. And loosen her up a little. I felt terrible when she got all...you know."

"It's okay. I'm sure she understands. It's just that you're a princess and she's a servant, and she didn't know what to do."

"But you're a  _queen_  and she's a servant, and you do all kinds of stuff together." Anna froze, then covered her face with her hands. "I did  **not**  mean to say that."

Elsa chuckled and stroked Anna's hair. "I understand. Be patient with her. And with yourself."

"But she's so...Ingrid-y."

Elsa sighed, smiled. "And you're so Anna-y, but I put up with you."

"Hmph. You."

Elsa touched her forehead to Anna's. "You smile a lot for someone who's so upset with me."

"I am not smiling," said Anna, smiling, as she took up her flower braid.

* * *

Elsa watched her work for a while, then leaned in to Ingrid until their heads almost touched. "Well?" she murmured, giving Ingrid an admiring smirk. "Anything to say for yourself?"

"After the leaves...?"

"Yes?"

"She felt so guilty. I  _had_  to do something."

"You  _had_  to dump snow down her back. For her own good."

"To make things even for her."

"I see. Very wise." Elsa's smirk widened into a self-satisfied smile. "Tell me you didn't enjoy seeing her hop around like that."

Ingrid thought. "I  _could_  tell you that. If you like."

Elsa beamed with pride.

* * *

With the additional flowers that Elsa brought, in a few minutes Anna was tucking the last stems into the beginning of the braid and the flower crown was complete. A beautiful coronet of petals and colour. "Well," said Elsa, "which of you is going to wear it?"

"One of us?" said Anna. "I wasn't thinking of making it for myself. Not that I could've made it  _by_  myself, either."

"It's yours to give," said Ingrid.

"Ours, I think. Which just leaves..." Anna met Ingrid's eyes and tipped her head at Elsa.

Ingrid nodded. "It is a crown. Queens wear crowns."

Together they placed it on her head.

"How do I look?" said Elsa, touching it gently.

"Beautiful," said Anna. "Not that you aren't always beautiful."

"Please," said Elsa, oddly self-conscious.

"More beautiful," said Ingrid.

"Beautifuller," said Anna, and Elsa smiled at their shared joke.

"I wish we had a mirror. You should see how lovely you are," said Ingrid, her eyes memorizing the sight of wildflowers against Elsa's white hair.

"As you wish," said Elsa, and conjured a hand mirror of ice. She had to admit it was a flattering look on her. It softened her. She resolved to wear more flowers, at least when she wasn't queening. It was a side she didn't show enough.

Suddenly the mirror reminded her of another ice mirror. And the conversations she'd had with the other side of it. Uncomfortable, she flicked the mirror into a puff of flakes that fluttered away like a cloud of crystal butterflies.  _Not today. Not right now._ "It's lovely," she said, taking off the floral crown, "but I have a crown already. How about you, Anna?" And she placed it on her sister's head.

Anna stood and modelled her new look with exaggerated la-de-dah postures, to Elsa's laughter and Ingrid's light applause. Elsa sighed happily, her eyes half-lidded with love, admiring Anna's beauty and adorable playfulness.

Anna sat down on the blanket again, taking it off. "I'm glad you like it, but I've wore a crown enough lately and I could use a break. But you know who  _hasn't_ worn one..." She held it out to Ingrid, who shied away from it as if it were a snake.

"I couldn't possibly."

"Honestly, Ingy, it's just a flower crown. It's not legally binding. Besides, we both had a turn."

"She's right, it's not an actual coronation," said Elsa, as Ingrid stared at it. Elsa shared a sly look with her sister. "Although, it  _could_  be."  _Are you thinking what I'm thinking?_ said Elsa's expression. Anna nodded in reply.

"No!" chirped Ingrid. "That is, I...what do you mean?"

"Nothing, exactly," said Anna. She dashed away for a moment.

"If you would be so good to stand up?" said Elsa, standing. "Or 'Arise,' rather." Ingrid stood, swaying.

Anna returned in an instant with a pinecone and a cattail. "Your orb and sceptre, ma'am," she said, offering them to Ingrid with a flourish.

Ingrid took them automatically and looked at them in confusion as Anna curtseyed deeply. "Oh, no." Still holding her royal regalia, Ingrid covered her blushing face with the backs of her hands. "I couldn't."

"You'll never be a proper sovereign with an attitude like that," said Elsa, unconsciously echoing her parents' words to herself. "Now, hands down please." Wide-eyed but obedient, Ingrid lowered her hands, holding the cattail and pinecone in front of her as Elsa had done. She looked at Anna, pleading with her eyes, but Anna just grinned and gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up.

Elsa looked over her shoulder at Anna. "Please. This is a solemn occasion." Anna managed to force a super-serious look onto her face for five seconds before bursting out into a grin again. Elsa stood straight and regal in front of the maid, who despite her nervousness and embarrassment (and secret joy) managed to do the same. "For as long as she may live," intoned Elsa, "or until dinnertime, whichever comes first, I affirm and declare Her Righteous Majesty Queen Ingrid Hanna Andersen to be Sovereign of Meadowland and Queen of the Clearing, her dominion extending to the edge of the meadow. May she rule wisely and well." She took advantage of Ingrid's frightened paralysis to place the flower crown on her head. In unison, she and Anna curtseyed deeply.

"Long live the Queen!" said Anna, leaping into the air and waving an imaginary flag as Elsa applauded.

Ingrid shuffled backwards, falling into the ice throne that Elsa had silently manifested behind her.

Anna and Elsa sat at her feet. "What does Your Majesty-" began Anna.

"You know better than that, Anna," chided Elsa. "One does not ask a direct question of a ruler." Dizzy with excitement, Ingrid nodded in agreement.

"My most profound apologies, Your Majesty," said Anna, kowtowing. "We eagerly await your directives." Elsa smothered a snicker at Anna's antics.

"I...I don't know," said Ingrid, looking around at her kingdom, Europa's newest and smallest nation. "I... Meadowland." She gazed at Elsa and Anna sitting on their heels before her, their eyes shining, Anna bumping her shoulder against Elsa's. A realization began to form. She waited for it to emerge from the fog. They reminded her of her own sisters.  _Oh. They're playing princesses. They've_ _ **been**_ _princesses, but they've never_ _ **played**_ _princesses. So much playing together they missed._  It made her heart ache for a moment, until she saw that she could help them make up for that now. "Yes. Well. Meadowland. We have to do this properly."  _What does a nation need?_  "A census."

"Three!" shouted Anna.

"Excellent. You may be our Councillor of the Exchequer."

Anna smiled at how quickly Ingrid had got in the spirit of the game.  _So serious._

"A national anthem."

" _Dance In A Ring_ ," said Elsa.

Ingrid blinked. "Why that?"

"Yeah, why, Elsa?" added Anna.

"You sing...that is, Your Majesty sings it to oneself sometimes when one is working." Elsa loved hearing the simple tune when Ingrid was lost in her work. Sometimes Elsa would sing it to herself without realizing, then catch herself at it. It was soothing.

"Excellent," said Ingrid. "You may be our Councillor for Arts and Culture."

"What about a- I mean, and it please Your Majesty, we need a flag," said Anna.

"Very good," said Ingrid, playing at Elsa's regal nod of approval.

"I have an idea," said Elsa. "Give me your apron."

Ingrid's hands were already at her back undoing the knot when she stopped herself. She paused, sitting extra straight, hands on the arms of her throne, looking down at her subject-queen. Ingrid scolded,  _"Is that how one speaks to one's sovereign?"_

Elsa's look of shocked surprise was quickly replaced by embarrassed giggles that made her shoulders shake as she smothered them with her hands. Anna, on the other hand, skipped straight to loudly guffawing and falling over backwards. "She's got you there, Elsa! She's got you there!" she said, rocking on her back.

"I apologize most deeply and profoundly, Your Majesty," said Elsa, bowing gracefully low, "I am mortified at my presumption, and I pray you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

"Of course we forgive you. We are a kind and merciful queen." Something about the utter seriousness of Ingrid's voice made Anna snort with laughter. Ingrid turned to her. "Are we quite done?"

Anna regained her composure at least partway. "Of course, ma'am. I'll be good." She couldn't help but grin, and Ingrid couldn't help but grin back.

"See that you do," said Ingrid. She unfastened her apron and was about to hand it to Elsa. She contemplated it for a moment, thinking about the long, strange, unexpected path her life had taken. And would no doubt continue to take. All she ever wanted to do, all she knew how to do, was to serve. To care for someone. She had found a wonderful woman to care for, and who had grown to care for her. No matter what would come, she would always have that. Looking at her apron, symbol of her service, filled her heart with happiness and pride. With love.  _No matter what will come, I will always have that._

She handed the maid's apron to Elsa. "The flag of Meadowland."

"Long may she wave," said Elsa and tied it to a branch that Anna had brought.

"Or until dinnertime, whichever comes first," added Anna. The flag reminded her of Baldur's Pass, and as much as there was that disturbed her, she had to admit she liked the excitement. "Army! What about the Meadowland Armed Forces?"

Ingrid frowned at the suggestion. She hadn't liked the army games her older brothers had played.

Elsa spoke up. "On behalf of the nation of Arendelle, I propose a treaty of mutual non-agression." She saw the frown fade as Ingrid offered her hand. Elsa took it gently, by the fingers, and shook it once with dignity.

"Done," said Ingrid. "However, Prin- However, Anna, you may be my honour guard."

Anna stood proudly beside the throne, at attention, eyes forward. She held the pose for ten seconds, then said, "Well, that's enough of that. What next? Er, I mean, I look forward to hearing Your Majesty's thoughts on what's next."

Ingrid looked to Elsa for inspiration, but Elsa only gave her the patient half-smile of a teacher waiting for an answer she knows will come.  _Diplomacy, economy.._. "Ah. Imports and exports," said Ingrid. "Councillor for the Exchequer?"

Anna barked her answer. "Imports: lunch. Exports: leftovers. And flower crowns."

"And happiness," added Elsa, touching Anna's arm on one side and Ingrid's hand on the other.

"Yes," said Ingrid, and Anna nodded.

Anna raised her hand. "Treasury. The Meadowland treasury."

Ingrid patted her pocket-belt through her dress. "I'm sorry, but I hadn't thought to bring money."

Elsa gave her an encouraging look.

Ingrid resumed her regal pose. "That is, we do not carry money. Exchequer?"

Anna shrugged. Elsa shook her head, then said, "Well, Meadowland should have its own currency, I suppose."

"Yeah, but what?" asked Anna. "What's valuable here? Flowers? Shiny rocks?"

"Kisses," said Ingrid, surprising herself as much as them.

"Ingrid!" said Anna, with a wicked look in her eyes. "I suppose you have someone in mind to collect taxes?"

"For one thing, it'd solve the problem of inflation," said Elsa. "No matter how many you produce, they're always precious." Hearing herself, Elsa dipped her head and smiled shyly, unintentionally tugging at Anna's and Ingrid's hearts.

"I don't think forgery would be an issue," said Ingrid.  _I know your kisses are true, Elsa._

Anna tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she thought. "Uh oh. I don't think it's going to work."

"What do you mean?" asked Elsa.

"You can't  _pay_  for anything. If you give a kiss, you get kissed back. They cancel each other out."

"Or both sides profit," replied Elsa.

"But how do you deal with the balance of payments?"

"Volume."

Anna snickered, then Ingrid, then Elsa.

Ingrid's expression turned grave. "I'm sorry, but it won't do."

"What?" asked Elsa.

"It's a, um, foreign exchange problem. You can't exchange Arendelle money for kisses. It's not nice."

"True," said Anna, as Elsa nodded.

"Still," pondered Elsa, "I imagine the internal economy would be fine."

* * *

They spent the rest of the afternoon playing queen and princesses, setting up their play-kingdom of Meadowland, laughing at their parodies of royal life. Sooner than they expected the sunlight lost its lustre and slanted at an angle as evening approached.

"Welp," said Anna, "dinnertime's coming. So much for the reign of Queen Ingrid of Meadowland." She raised her palms defensively at their disappointed looks. "Hey, don't look at me, I didn't make the sun go down." And then, "Be pretty impressive if I could, though."

"Yes, but who'd get it up again the next morning?" teased Elsa.

Ingrid stood up from the throne. "It was a good kingdom. No wars, no crime."

"A contented populace," said Elsa.

"And the history textbooks would be one page long," added Anna. "That's my kind of country."

Elsa dissolved the throne, and began to untie the apron-flag from its branch-flagpole. She paused, turned to the other two, not quite ready to let go of their pocket kingdom. "Before we lower the flag, perhaps..."

"Perhaps what?" asked Anna, as Ingrid watched intently.

"Perhaps we should sing the national anthem."

Ingrid blinked, puzzled. " _Sons Of Arendelle_?"

" _Dance In A Ring_."

"Oh," said Ingrid. Anna shrugged her agreement, and they sang.

_Dance in a ring, dance in a ring_

_Dance in a ring, dance in a ring_

_Dance, all dance, all dance in a ring._

Elsa took Anna's hands as Queen Ingrid looked on, and they danced in a circle.

_Dance two by two, dance two by two_

_Dance two by two, dance two by two_

_Dance, all dance, all dance in a ring._

Elsa and Anna opened the circle, holding their hands out to Ingrid.

_Dance three by three, dance three by three_

_Dance three by three, dance three by three_

_Dance, all dance, all dance in a ring._

The dance ended. Each one looking thoughtful in her own way, they parted hands and curtseyed to each other. Quietly they packed up the picnic, Elsa and Anna folding the blanket, Ingrid brushing the last of the snow off the basket.

Ingrid took the flower crown off her head and offered it to Elsa, then to Anna. "Keep it," said Anna.

"In case we need to make you queen again."

" _Queen Ingrid In Exile_ ," said Anna. "Sounds like an exciting story."

"I suppose it is," said Ingrid, as they walked back to their carriage.

As they boarded the carriage and Anna took the reins, Ingrid leaned in to Elsa. "I wasn't really a queen, was I? Not for real?"

"What do you mean?"

"You are queen. Your word is law. And you said I was queen of...there."

"I wouldn't worry about it." Elsa patted Ingrid's knee.

Ingrid sat back, half-mollified.

"If it's any comfort, you were a lot better ruler than some I've met. You were 'a wise and merciful queen'."

"Like you," said Ingrid.

_I wish. I hope_. "Thank you." Elsa took Ingrid's hand as they rode back to the queen's true home.


	13. Another Bouquet Of Iceflowers

Elsa was reclining on a chaise longue on the balcony, idly firing ice magic in the air. “Iceflowers,” the people called them. It was a new moon, so as soon as the glow of her magic faded her swirls and crystals disappeared from view. She was thinking about Anna and Ingrid and herself. She didn’t feel like talking about it, not even with her ‘reflection’ in the ice mirror hidden in the former dungeon room.

It had been a month of pleasant closeness since the picnic – but not too close -- a time to relax and settle into a new routine. Romantic dinners with Anna. Dancing “practice”. Cuddling. But not going too far.

Working smoothly with Ingrid by her side. Her reassuring, quiet presence. Comfortable familiarity as Ingrid helps her prepare for the day, or for sleep. But not going too far.

Anna and Ingrid learning how to be around each other. Ingrid becoming more comfortable around the princess, as she had with her queen. Anna finding the right way to play with Ingrid, making her adorably flustered without frightening her.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was good. _Couldn’t it go on like this forever?_

In a curling fountain of crystals Elsa wrote _A E I_ across the sky. She let her hand drop and pondered the luminous initials.

_No, it couldn’t._

With a start she realized that, like a schoolgirl at her desk, she had doodled her crushes’ initials where everyone could see. She quickly added O U Æ Ø and Å. _Learn your vowels, children_. She smiled crookedly at her own foolishness.

The blue-white glow of her magic illuminated a pale figure off to the side. Elsa’s smile turned from wry to welcoming. “Ingrid! Join me!” She scootched over and patted the chaise in invitation.

“Ma’am,” said Ingrid, and bobbed a brief curtsey. “Elsa.” Ingrid sat on the edge of the chaise, at Elsa’s side.

Elsa patted the space beside herself again. “Ingrid?” She snuggled into Elsa’s side, Elsa’s arm around her, her own arms pulled in.

She watched the glittering blue-white glow of ice magic waxing and waning as Elsa doodled across the sky. She gave Ingrid time to relax, but the tension in Ingrid’s shoulders didn’t change. “Something the matter?”

She felt Ingrid nod her head.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“...no...”

Elsa waited. “Do you _need_ to talk about it?”

Ingrid nodded.

She sat up, and Elsa followed suit. They sat sideways on the chaise, skewed to face each other. She took Ingrid’s hand, but it lay dead in hers. “Go ahead,” said Elsa softly.

Ingrid stared at her hand in Elsa’s. “I killed Hans.”

Elsa fought the urge to blurt, _We’ve been through this already._ If this was Anna, she would’ve let her exasperation show. But this wasn’t Anna. “Yes, Ingrid. I know.”

Ingrid carefully retrieved her hand and sat square on the chaise, not facing Elsa. “No. I killed Hans. I killed him.” Elsa crossed her leg towards Ingrid, but otherwise sat quietly and waited for her to go on. “I tried to tell you, but...I was weak. I told myself I was protecting you. I was scared. Ashamed. I should be ashamed. I lied.”

Elsa let her unspoken questions float in the air between them.

Ingrid went on. “A lie of omission is still a lie. I let you believe...things.” She stopped, gathered her courage, and began. “It was the night after... The night...”

“It’s okay, Ingrid. I know what night it was.”

“Everyone was asleep. I came to his bedroom. Hans’s. I swaddled him so he couldn’t move. I woke him up. No, I swaddled him, then I gagged him, _then_ I woke him up.” As if she was reading aloud from a newspaper, she told Elsa the whole story, from giving him 120 seconds to make peace with God, everything she said to him, to gathering and disposing of the evidence.

Elsa sat stunned and fascinated. She remembered how she was afraid that Ingrid would hear details of how Hans had died, messily. She should have realized how strong Ingrid was in her way, how it wouldn’t have bothered her. Still, she couldn’t have imagined what actually happened.

Ingrid finished her story and sat quietly.

“Wow,” said Elsa in a voice just above a whisper. “I had no idea.”

“Yes,” said Ingrid, her back curved as she curled in on herself. “I’m sorry.” Elsa stroked her back but she flinched away. “It’s all right that you don’t love me anymore. You’ve been more than kind.”

“What?”

“You’re disgusted with me. Disappointed.”

“No, Ingrid, I’m...” Elsa shook her head to say ‘No’, and to try to clear it. “I don’t know what I am right now. Besides confused. But I’m not disappointed or disgusted. I’m, I guess, surprised?” She put her hands together, touching her fingertips to her lips. “You did this for me.”

Ingrid nodded, still staring at the ground between her feet.

“For me?” she repeated.

Ingrid nodded again, and muttered like a schoolgirl in the principal’s office. “He would try to kill you again. I couldn’t have that. Or Anna.”

“You were acting in my defence. In defence of your queen.”

Ingrid shrugged her hunched shoulders.

“I think...” Elsa touched her steepled fingertips to her lips again. “What I said before still holds. There’s no real difference between dropping a block of ice on Hans or...what you did. You were defending my life, and your own, and your country. You are just as innocent as before. More than innocent. A brave soldier.”

Ingrid turned to her, eyes shining with tears, and shook her head. “He was asleep. He wasn’t a danger, not then. Helpless. I killed him in cold blood. I’m bad.”

“I wish we had it to do over again. I wish I could’ve talked to you about it.”

“No,” declared Ingrid. “I wouldn’t tell you.”

“I don’t follow.” Elsa made a motion to touch her, comfort her, but stopped herself and rested her hand on the cushion between them. “Are you saying—”

“I’d do it again. Just the same. And not tell you. Even if it’s cowardly and selfish. I wouldn’t want to upset you.” She sniffled. “And now I have.”

“Ingrid, you haven’t upset me. I’m still getting a hold of it.” Elsa gathered her thoughts. “There were guards on his room. Armed guards. You could’ve been caught. Maybe killed.”

Ingrid shrugged.

“And the things you said. About seeing your brother again. You...you really believe that.”

Ingrid shrugged again, and turned to her with an apologetic smile. “Yes.”

“Ingrid.” This time Elsa dared to take her hands, and Ingrid didn’t pull away. “You risked your life, and your immortal soul, to protect me. And even facing someone you had every reason to hate and fear, a true monster, you were polite and courteous.” Elsa shook her head, then smiled a wry smile at her. “There is no one in the world like you. You are...sooey generis.”

Ingrid smiled through her sniffles. “You’re trying to make me feel better.”

“Yes, I am.” Elsa’s smile grew warmer.

“But he was... He was... He wasn’t a danger. He was defenceless.”

“You said yourself, you knew he’d try to kill us again.”

“Not me. You. But I didn’t have any proof, any evidence.”

“Ingrid. Listen. Do you know why we have juries, and judges, and a queen?”

“To make the law?”

“If justice was just a matter of law, we wouldn’t need all this. You’d just have a clerk with a shelf of law books, looking things up. But in the end, you have to have people. Using our sense of fairness, using our judgment, to do what we believe is right. And at the end of that line of people is me. Maybe Hans didn’t have any plans at the time. It’s theoretically possible that he could suddenly see the light, choose a life of goodness and honesty, and change his ways.”

Elsa saw the dread in Ingrid’s eyes at that thought.

“But we know that’s not so. He would’ve tried again. Somehow, some time. Your judgment was right. Mine is the same. We know it’s true. You did what needed to be done, and you did it bravely, with justice and compassion.” Elsa watched the dread be replaced with hope. “If you thought telling me this would make me love you less, well, you got it exactly backwards.” She cupped her hand against Ingrid’s cheek, treasuring her grateful smile.

Then Elsa paused. “You...wanted me to...” She frowned. “Ingrid.”

“Yes ma’am?”

“When you came here, to tell me this. Were you _trying_ to make me fall out of love with you?”

“I...” Ingrid’s gaze fell again. “It would have been for the best.”

“Because you didn’t want me to have to choose between you and Anna.”

“She’s a princess. You deserve a princess.”

Elsa sighed. “She’s also my sister.”

“Yes,” said Ingrid, with an enthusiasm that startled Elsa.

“What do you mean?”

“Even if you have to hide what you feel, she’s... You can walk with her. Talk with her. Hold her hand. Flatter her. Tell her you love her in front of everyone. You don’t have to hide in a field in the middle of nowhere before you could feed her bits of food. You can’t do these things with a servant. It’s not done. People would talk.”

Elsa tried to reassure her with a smile. “I’m the queen. I can do what I want.”

Ingrid shook her head gently. “Begging your pardon, but no. It would be bad for things. For you. I wouldn’t let you.”

“You would tell me what to do?”

“I would...” Ingrid swallowed. “I would frown at you.”

“Really?”

“Disapprovingly.”

“I see.”

“When no one was looking, of course.”

Elsa grinned as she chuckled. “You’re a fierce little mouse, aren’t you.”

“When it’s important.”

Elsa sighed, took her hands again. “Oh, Ingrid. You know I want you to be more bold. And you have been, and I’m very proud of you. But there is one place where you have overstepped your bounds.” Ingrid’s eyes widened, but Elsa kept a firm grip on her hands. “It’s my responsibility to decide who I love, and who would be best for me. You’re right, it’s not easy, and it’s not simple. But it’s my choice, and mine alone. You can support me—and you do, and I love you for that—but in the end it’s my decision. Do you understand?”

Ingrid nodded meekly.

“Good. Now lie down beside me.” Ingrid did as she was told, as she wanted to do, and snuggled against Elsa’s side. Elsa turned her head to kiss Ingrid’s forehead, pulled her close. “Feel better?”

“Yes,” said Ingrid without enthusiasm. Elsa shot feathery fern-shaped curls of magic into the sky, and glittering snowflakes that burst in showers of glitter, as they lay quietly together.

After a while, Elsa said, “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

Ingrid sighed, and nodded against Elsa’s shoulder.

“You know it’s all right. Right?”

Ingrid was silent.

“What you did was right, and just. And legal. And you’ll never get in trouble over it.”

Ingrid nodded.

“But it still bothers you.”

“Yes,” said Ingrid in a small voice. “I know you’d like me to feel better, and I do, but not...all better.”

Instead of asking, Elsa lay quietly against her, doodling across the sky with her magic. They lay peacefully together. Even as she was concerned for Ingrid, Elsa found herself enjoying the serenity of being next to someone she cared for, and cared for her, and not having to say anything.

Finally Ingrid said, “I know what I did was...what you said. I still feel bad about it. I did what I did. To him. It’s right, but it’s still not right. To do that.”

Elsa absorbed this. She was tempted to try to think it through. She was very good at thinking. But this was something she needed to feel.

“Ingrid?” she said gently. “There’s someone I’d like you to meet. A friend of mine. A good person to talk to. Bishop Snorresgade.”

“Bishop... He’s head of the church, isn’t he?”

This time it was Elsa who shrugged. “That’s not important. He’s a nice man. Very soft-spoken. Kind. And if you wanted to talk to him, in confidence—trust me, it would be in strict confidence—I think you might feel better.” She paused, waited for Ingrid to agree or object. “You don’t have to. But would you think about it? For me?”

Ingrid considered. “Yes.”

“Yes you’ll think about it, or yes you’ll talk to him?”

“Both?”

“All right, both.”

Ingrid sighed, nuzzled against Elsa’s shoulder. “You take very good care of me. Thank you.”

“You don’t know how many times I’ve thought the same thing about you.”

Then Elsa set to the serious work of filling the sky with luminous crystals and entertaining her mouse.

 


	14. Both So Intense

Ingrid’s feet tap-tapped as she descended the stone steps of the room behind the wine cellar wall. She had mulled over her confession to Elsa. She had spoken to the kindly old pastor that Elsa had recommended. They had a good long talk that left her feeling somewhat better, and he directed her to the story of Jael the wife of Heber. It wasn’t until later that she’d learned the man with the soft hands and gentle manner was actually the head of the Lutheran Church of Arendelle. But she wanted another perspective, from someone she could trust to be discreet, so she had come down to talk with Frida.

As she came around to the front of the ice mirror, she was surprised to see that the figure inside was curled up on the floor. And also that her short, spiky hair was now long and flowing. The figure looked up at her with eyes that were a beautiful blue, not blank and crystal patterned.

“Ingrid! How did you get here? What are you doing here?”

Ingrid hesitated. “The same as before; I pulled the cabinet away from the wall. I had come to talk. Is something the matter?”

“You knew about this place? You’ve been here before?”

Ingrid nodded. “Is that bad?”

She sprang to her feet, pressing against the inside of the mirror and gazing gratefully at Ingrid. “It doesn’t matter. You’re here now, and you can get me out.” Ingrid paused and took half a step back. “No, you don’t understand. There’s someone out there who looks and sounds exactly like me, who wants to sit on the throne. Who has trapped me in here. I need to get out of here.” Ingrid hesitated. “Ingrid. Look at me. Please. Do you know me? Don’t you know who I am?”

Ingrid’s brow furrowed. “Frida? You look different. More like her.”

She stood straighter, and in a bitter, tired voice said, “My name is _not_ Frida.”

Ingrid turned away slightly, looked at her askance. “But...if you _were_ Frida...and you wanted to...”

“Ingrid. Please. I would never lie to you.”

Ingrid took another half-step back, shaking her head in dismay and confusion.

Inside the mirror she sighed, her shoulders slumping. “Of course. She and I look and sound identical. How could you possibly tell who is who? No, don’t blame yourself. You would have no way to tell. I understand.” She paused, hand to chin. “I know! I could tell you something intimate, something no one else knows.” She smiled, head down, looking up at Ingrid through her lashes. “Like where you’ve put your fingers, and when.”

Ingrid covered her face with her hands for a moment, then dropped them to expose the thoughtful look that had replaced her blush. “Begging your pardon, but that wouldn’t work. She’s your reflection. She knows what you know.” Her statement was met with a thoughtful nod. “Or, that is, you know what she knows. If you...”

“No, that’s all right. I understand. Take the time you need. When you’re sure, come back here. Please?”

Ingrid was flustered by Elsa saying “Please” to her. If that was Elsa, of course. “But I thought you were in a hurry.”

She leaned a palm against the inside of the mirror. “I...can’t put that kind of pressure on you. I can’t rush you. You want to be certain, which is...right. You’re prudent. You’re very wise, Ingrid. More than you give yourself credit for. It’s all right.” Her hand dropped as she clasped them in front of herself. “All I ask is that when you’re confident, you come back here as soon as you can. Which you would do in any event, of course. You’re a good girl, Ingrid. A very good girl.”

Ingrid took a moment, then stepped up to the cold, smooth surface. “If I _were_ to release you, how would it work?”

* * *

Elsa sat in her inner bedroom in a comfortable armchair, with a book in her lap. Strictly speaking the book was in Anna’s lap, and Anna was sitting in her lap cross-ways, back against one arm, legs dangling over the other, and one arm around her sister’s neck. The idea was that Elsa would read to her, but Anna kept interrupting with silly comments about the book or goofy expressions, so the small volume sat forgotten.

“You’re hair is so beautiful, Elsa,” said Anna, taking up the end of Elsa’s braid and brushing it against her lips.

“Well don’t go chewing on it,” said Elsa with a warm smile. “Besides, I like yours better.”

“Mine? Don’t you know what they say about redheads?”

“No. I do not,” said Elsa, her lips firm but her eyes glinting merrily.

“That’s because they don’t dare say it in front of _you_.” Anna tickled Elsa’s nose with her own braid, making Elsa shake her head and foof away at the sensation.

“Brat.”

“Present!” replied Anna cheerfully, making Elsa chuckle.

“Anyway, I do like your hair better. Mine makes me think of...” The smile left her cheeks as the sparkle left her eyes. She thought about when Anna’s hair was as white as hers.

“Hey!” said Anna, jostling in her lap. “So why’d you decide to read to me tonight?” She picked up the book and set it on the table behind her, twisting her arm awkwardly. “Or try to, anyway?”

“I was thinking about when we were little. How close we were.”

“How close we _are_ , right?”

Elsa beamed. “Yes. How close we are.” She touched her forehead to Anna’s. “I missed you so much, and for so long.” She sat back again. “And sometimes I think about how much I missed you.” Feeling Anna stir herself, Elsa quickly added, “It’s okay.”

Anna looked at her appraisingly. “You know, it is okay. It’s okay to remember, because it makes us really appreciate what we’ve got. Like I’ve got you.” She started to tickle her big sister until Elsa grabbed her wrists firmly. She giggled, then rested her head against Elsa’s shoulder. “I love this. I love _you_.”

Elsa leaned her head against Anna’s. “And I love you too.” She bounced her leg up and down, gently joggling Anna. “Sometimes I can’t believe how you managed to keep on loving me even when I shut you out for years, and you were so lonely. People think I have powerful magic, but your love makes it look like nothing. I can’t imagine how you kept loving me. I can’t imagine how anyone could love someone like me.”

“Hey, that’s crazy talk! I always knew, even when I –” She remembered their confrontation after the Coronation, the crisis after Elsa kissed her the first time. “–I always knew that as much as you hurt me, shut me out, as frustrated and lonely as I was–” She saw the stricken look in Elsa’s eyes and squeezed her hand. “I knew it had to be just as bad for you. Or worse. Because I knew that even if you hurt me, you would never hurt me.” She smiled awkwardly. “If you know what I mean.”

“I do.” Elsa squeezed her hand back, and they sat curled up for a while.

Anna sat up as best she could. “You know who else could love someone like you? Ingrid.”

Elsa blinked. “Wait, what?”

Anna gripped the arms of the chair and hoisted herself up. She stood with her arms at her side, then tried fists on her hips, then dropped her arms again. “I think you should choose Ingrid.”

Elsa tilted her head. “What brought this on?”

“I’ve been thinking. And I know it’s hard for you, what with Ingrid and me and...stuff. And I love you, and she loves you, and I think you should choose Ingrid.” She exhaled. “There.”

“Anna?”

She leaned forward and put her hands on Elsa’s. “I love you. You know I do. And I love being with you, and cuddling and all that. And I never want to lose you again.” She stood up again. “But you should choose Ingrid.”

“Anna, is something the matter?”

“No! Of course not. It’s just that she’s totally devoted to you, and she is pretty – did you notice she’s been filling out a bit since we’ve been feeding her properly? – I mean not us personally, except for that one time, but that’s beside the point – and she maybe never had proper tutors like we did, but she’s super smart, and you get along really well, and since she’s your amanuensis she has a perfect excuse to be around all the time, which is good. And she’ll totally understand and not be jealous if we do stuff together, and we will do stuff together, lots of stuff, even if it’s not bedroom stuff, because I will always be your sister and I will always love you. And she –” Anna took a deep breath. “–She’s better at bedroom stuff than I am.”

“Is that what this is about, Anna? You think I’m not happy with you? When we make love? Because nothing could be further from the truth. Were you not enjoying it? Or don’t want to do it again? You know I would never dream of making you the least bit uncomfortable about that.”

“No, I liked it fine. I liked it a lot, as a matter of fact. More than – well, that’s not important. So. Ingrid.”

Elsa leaned forward, waiting patiently and gently. “Is there anything else?” she said softly.

Anna almost quivered with tension, then blurted out, “She’s not your sister.”

“Oh.” Elsa sat back. “It does disgust– It does bother you.”

“No!” Anna wrung her hands. “Not like that, anyway.”

“Like what,” said Elsa flatly.

“When you’re with me you’re risking everything. Sure Ingrid’s a commoner, but that sort of thing happens all the time. And anyway, this is Arendelle. People don’t get as worked up about commoner-nobility stuff as they do in, uh, Weselton for instance. But your sister. If that got out, people would...do...” She shrugged. “I don’t know what, but it wouldn’t be good. No, it would be bad. Very bad.” Anna sat on the floor next to the chair, laying her forearm on Elsa’s lap. “And you love me so much, and I love you, but for me to put you at that kind of risk every time... It’s selfish of me. It’s wrong. I can’t do that to you.”

Elsa touched Anna’s forearm. “You think this is something _you_ are doing to _me_?”

“Kind of, yeah.” She slid her arm down and put her head in Elsa’s lap.

Elsa stroked her hair. “And this is what you want?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“For me to be with Ingrid and not you?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“You’re sure? You’re absolutely sure?”

“Mmmm.” Anna sighed. “No. I’m not sure. I’m not sure what I want. I want you to be with her, and I want you to be with me, and I want you to not be with anybody which is a cheap crappy thing to want, and I want our secret to never get out, and I want everyone to know. I don’t know what I want. I don’t know anything.”

“This isn’t something you know, Anna. This is something you feel.”

“Good, ‘cause I don’t know what I feel either. Or I feel everything.”

Elsa stroked her hair again. “It’s all right. We’ll figure it out somehow. And it doesn’t have to be tonight.”

Anna sighed again.

“Funny,” mused Elsa. “A couple of days ago Ingrid gave me a speech that she was no good for me and I should be with you. Now you give me a speech that I should be with her. I wonder if you got the idea from the same place?” She felt Anna tense in her lap. “What is it? I didn’t mean anything.”

Anna jumped to her feet. “I have to go check on something. On Ingrid. To see if she got her idea from the same place.” She dashed for the door, stopped halfway there, turned to say something, then changed her mind and bolted.


	15. An End To Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first part of this should really have been the second half of the previous chapter. Once everyone's had a chance to read it I'll probably go back and change it around. Meanwhile, I'm sure you'll be able to follow along [smiley face emoji]

“It’s as simple as that?” asked Ingrid.

“As simple and beautiful as that. Feel the love in your heart, want me to be out there with you, and you can pull me free. Love. You can do it. I know you can, Ingrid. I believe in you.”

“Thank you.” Ingrid was flustered. If this truly was Elsa she wouldn’t hesitate for a moment. Even if it wasn’t, she seemed so kind and understanding. Could it be that bad? But she knew how bad people could say good things. “Just put my hands against the ice?”

“Touching mine.”

“I... I’m still not sure.”

The image of Elsa sighed, sad but sweet, and nodded its understanding. “When you see her, when you start to have doubts, come back here.” She smiled a wry half-smile. “I’ll be here.” She rested a hand against the inside of the mirror. “But, if you could come down anyway, I would be grateful. Can you imagine what it’s like to be trapped in a room, with someone else’s company being your only connection to the world? It would mean a lot to me.”

Ingrid remembered how her brother Anders had depended on her. She rested a palm against the ice mirror in sympathy. She thought about Anders, and how lonely Elsa would be without her. If it was Elsa. She tried to untangle her thoughts and feelings.

“Ingrid, please. Please help me.”

Ingrid bit her lip.

_“Ingrid! Do as you’re told!”_

In an instant Ingrid’s other hand was against the mirror. She felt the hard, smooth surface soften under her palms. Fingers interlaced with hers. She pulled back, half meaning to, half stepping away in uncertainty. In an instant soft arms were around her, a soft face gently nuzzled her hair. Cool, soft lips met hers in a passionate kiss. “Oh, thank you, Ingrid. Thank you. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

Ingrid felt something cold and hard tighten around her neck and pull her back. She put her hands to her throat and felt a collar of ice, attached to a chain that led to the wall beside her. The figure before her blinked hard as the layer of coloured ice on her eyes crackled and flaked away, revealing the snowflake-etched blankness she had seen before. The figure shook out her long hair and it fell away, leaving the spiky upsweep she recognized.

“So that’s kissing,” said the figure as she licked the corner of her lips. “Next to self-awareness, having a body is the most interesting thing I’ve experienced.”

Ingrid’s lip quivered. “You said you weren’t Frida! You lied!”

“I said my name wasn’t Frida. And I never said it was. I said you could _call_ me Frida. I’ve been called a lot of things.” She smirked. “Some of them not very nice.” Ingrid flinched as she patted her cheek. “There is an impostor in the castle. Me. There is someone out there who wants to sit on the throne. Elsa, and why shouldn’t she? Every word I said to you was true.” She-- _it_ \--smirked. “Some of the paragraphs may have been a bit misleading.”

Ingrid gripped the ice-chain in her hands. She needed to feel something solid. “What do you want?”

“I want to help Elsa. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. She simply doesn’t realize how she needs to be helped.” It conjured chairs for both of them. “Do sit down,” it said. “Now. Loving you and Anna is tearing her heart apart. And I thought between the two of you, one of you could convince her to choose the other one. But since you’ve both let us down, I’ll have to go to the, um, heart of the matter. Her heart. But Anna should be along shortly.”

Ingrid tilted her head.

“I may have _implied_ I was trapped in here, but consider. How far back does a reflection go?” It waved at the ice mirror. “There’s a whole mirror castle back there. A whole mirror world, probably. My domain. I could observe anything, even more invisibly than you. In fact...” It looked to the entrance and frowned. “Hm. Can’t see from this side of the mirror. Freedom has its price, I suppose. Still, she was on her way here.” They heard the scrape of the secret entrance being opened. “Ah. Excellent.” It stood and faced the opening as Anna rushed down the stairs.

“Ingrid! What’s--” She turned to the other figure in the room. “How did you get--”

It flicked its fingers, and Anna’s hands were locked in manacles of ice, the image of the manacles and chains that had bound Elsa. It conjured a third chair, and the ice chains yanked Anna into the seat. It returned to its own seat, and put its hand to its chin. “I suppose you have some questions.”

Anna turned to Ingrid. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d been talking to...her?"

Ingrid looked at the floor. “She asked me not to.”

“She...asked you not to.”

“She asked me nicely.”

Frida-as-was gazed levelly at Anna. “And why didn’t _you_ tell _her_?”

“Because…” She addressed Ingrid. “Because she asked me not to.” Anna shrugged, smiling awkwardly. “Nicely.” Her smile dropped. “Sorry.”

“No, I should be sorry,” replied Ingrid. “I let her out.”

“Why did you--?” said Anna. “No, never mind. It’s not like I’ve never done a stupid thing in my life.”

“With respect, Ma’am, you’re not stupid. You knew to look for me here. A little sooner--”

“And I might’ve let her out myself, I don’t know.”

“Please!” said their host-jailer. “You can play ‘Who’s more pitiful?’ later. Anyway, it’s all for the best. As soon as Elsa gets here--” It looked to the doorway, and gave a grunt of frustration. “Mph. Wrong side of the mirror. As soon as she gets here, I’ll put everything the way it’s meant to be. Meanwhile, we’re one too many for ‘tafl and one too few for euchre. Twenty Questions? Charades? Anyone?”

Anna goggled at the lightning change in mood. There was something...she didn’t know what to call it...something childlike in the way this person, or whatever, behaved. As if it was still learning how to be a person, and was eager to try out everything.

Again they heard the scrape of the secret door, and footsteps tapping down the stairs. The blonde jumped from her seat, clapping its hands in glee. “Here she is. Here she is!”

Elsa burst into the room and was shocked into immobility. “What?!?” Ingrid chained to one wall, Anna chained and manacled to the other, and her reflection standing in front of her, blank crystal eyes bright with excitement.

“Finally!” said her doppelganger. And a dazzling blue-white beam pierced Elsa through the chest.

* * *

 

**Chapter: An End To Fear**

 

Anna and Ingrid both shouted “No!”

As Elsa staggered back, hand to her chest, eyes closed, Reflection dashed to her side.

“What did you do?” asked Elsa, sounding more puzzled than afraid.

“It’s all right, Elsa. I’ve solved your problems for you. I’ve frozen your heart.”

Elsa’s eyes, now blank-white and etched with her snowflake sigil, opened in surprise. “What? Why?”

“I think you know why. Or will, if you think about it. I mean, I figured at least one of them would get you to choose the other.” It shrugged. “But if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”

Elsa wasn’t upset, but she was puzzled at how upset she wasn’t.

Anna shouted her objections until Reflection muffled her with a mouthful of snow and continued. “Your heart. It was tearing you in two. And even outside of your--let’s face it--unoriginal little love triangle, your love of your people drives you to sacrifice yourself. Even your love of humanity holds you back. Remember the Southern Isles, when you were wasting time fighting mercenaries without killing them? Honestly, now that I’m self-aware, I am retroactively infuriated at how timid you were.”

Elsa blinked her white eyes in confusion.

Reflection put a calming hand to Elsa’s cheek. “It’s okay. You’re a little disoriented. But I know how clever you are. You’ll come around in no time.” It dropped its hand. “You’re still yourself. You can still feel things. Just not love. And you still know right and wrong. But now you have some perspective. You can see how unimportant they are. You are free. You decide. No right, no wrong, no rules for you except the ones you make. You are truly free, possibly the only free person in the world.” It spread its arms, encompassing the world. “Isn’t this wonderful?”

“But...this isn’t right. I still feel…” Elsa looked at Anna, at Ingrid. The fear in their eyes registered with her. She knew she should do something, should be more upset. And yet…

“Yes! You feel. See for yourself.” It waved an arm at the chained women. “Kiss them. You know you want to. See how it feels.”

Elsa hesitated, but with her Reflection’s imploring look prodding her, she went to them. She looked into Anna’s frightened eyes, cradled her face, and kissed her. Anna whimpered her distress, then held Elsa closely, tightly, seeking some reassurance.

Elsa nuzzled Anna’s hair, breathing in deeply. The scent of her still intoxicated Elsa, but there was a blank spot in the centre of her feelings. There was no denying however that her body was thrilled.

She went to Ingrid, who dutifully lifted her mouth to Elsa’s. The embrace was mechanical at first, then a wave of need washed through Ingrid as she clung tightly to her queen, moaning softly even as tears welled up in her eyes.

Elsa turned to look at Anna, still holding Ingrid tightly. Experimentally, she grabbed Ingrid’s bottom and squeezed her close, still looking at Anna. The pang she expected to feel--that she _ought_ to feel--wasn’t there.

“Passion, gratitude, aesthetic appreciation. Pride. Lust. Wrath. _You_ know. You can feel all those things. Kind of the point, really. And now you can have them, the feelings and the girls, any way you like. And it won’t hurt you--” It touched the cold spot where Elsa’s heart was. “--here. That’s what you wanted. That’s what you want.” It waved an arm at its captives. “Elsa and Anna. Elsa and Ingrid. Ooh, Ingrid and Anna! Won’t that be fun!”

“I…” Elsa was still getting used to this new, heartless, perspective. “I don’t think they want to?”

“Well, Anna will struggle, of course. We’ll have to restrain her. Which is part of the fun. Maybe she’ll get used to it. Maybe not. Either way it would be interesting. I mean it’s true, isn’t it? Now that you’re free of love’s chains, doesn’t the thought make you a little...tingly?” It smirked. “Ingrid, on the other hand, is a good, obedient girl. I’m sure she’ll do what you say.”

“No,” said Ingrid softly.

Reflection turned to her, not angry but surprised at this defiance. “Ingrid. Thou good and faithful servant. Must I remind you? You took a vow. To serve your queen.”

“I did. My queen has a heart.”

Reflection scoffed. “Don’t worry. She’ll come around. _They_ still love _you_ , you see. They always will.” It stood between them, facing Elsa. “And as long as they do, as long as they cling to the hope that the ‘real’ Elsa is still in there, they will do anything they can to help you.”

Anna bashed the mirror creature with all her might, the heavy ice manacle sledgehammering its head. In that instant of imbalance Anna hit it again, hard enough to crackle the surface of the manacle and knock flakes of its head loose, driving it to its knees. Ingrid took the chain that bound her and wrapped it around the creature’s throat. Her already-pale knuckles whitened with the force of her grip as she tightened. Anna was poised to take another blow, but was stopped by the sight of Ingrid’s wild eyes, her rictus mouth. Ingrid was shaking her head No, sawing the chain in rhythm with her head. The creature’s eyes were also wide and wild as it scrabbled helplessly at the chain, its hands slowing and weakening, then falling loose as its body sagged and stopped moving. Ingrid’s grip did not let up.

“Ingrid?” said Anna quietly. “It’s done. You can stop now.” She cleared her throat. “Ingrid. Ingrid? She’s gone. You can stop. You can stop it, Ingrid. Ingrid? Hey, Ingrid. _Ingrid!_ ”

“She tried to take my queen. **_She tried to take my queen!_ ** ”

Anna muttered “perkele!” under her breath as Ingrid’s eyes refocused on the room around her, saw the surprised look on Elsa’s face and the horrified one on Anna’s.

Ingrid’s shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to see this.” She turned her face away. “I’m sorry.”

Anna would’ve patted her shoulder if it weren’t for the shackles. “It’s okay. It’s...understandable. All things considered.” She smiled awkwardly.

They both took a moment to collect themselves.

“What do you think? Too much? Be honest,” said Reflection as It opened its eyes and looked up at Elsa. With a tinkling clatter the chain around its neck fell apart, then rejoined behind it. “I mean, what’s the point if you can’t have some fun?’ It stood, turning to face Ingrid. “Sweetie. Did you think you could hurt me with my own chain? Did you think I needed to breathe?” It turned to Anna. “Did you think you could harm me? _Did you think I was mortal?_ ”

It went to Elsa again. “Still, you can’t blame them for trying. And now they’ve got it out of their system, they’ll know better before trying again.”

Elsa gestured at the chains that bound her sister and her companion, but except for a flicker of frost they were unchanged. _So. Only love can thaw. I can freeze, but I can’t thaw._ “Don’t hurt them,” said Elsa, her voice flat. “Don’t make them do things. It’s not right.”

Reflection sighed. “Of course not. Anything you want is yours. Including them. Or, not just them. Anyone that takes your fancy. We can have your people send up a tribute. Beautiful virgins, just like the old days. Or just wander the streets. Arendelle is your smorgasbord. ‘I’ll have one of those, please, and save those two for later’.” It saw the hint of a crease forming between Elsa’s eyebrows. “Or if you’re still having qualms, there’s always me. I can be what you want.” Its face and body shifted like loose snow before the wind, forming new features as fast as it named them. “I can be Ingrid for you. Or Anna. Or that woman in the bakery shop. Or any combination of anyone.” It glanced down at itself. “Oh look! Seems like I got a little Kristoff in there, too.” It raised an eyebrow. “Not _that_ little.” Over her shoulder, “Am I right, Anna?”

“I have duties,” said Elsa, thoughts rushing in to fill the space where feelings were. “I have a duty. I am queen.”

“Yes! Of course! And what a queen, what a _ruler_ we will be.” It took Elsa’s face in its hands. “You worry about your people. About your country. I know your fear. I know all your fears. And you’ll never have to worry again. You want your people to have food, fabrics, wealth, all the things they want and need. Take them! Did I say Arendelle is your smorgasbord? The world is! Take what you need! Make your people safe!” It stroked Elsa’s face. “You know how simple it is.” Its voice dropped to a whisper. “You know how easy it is. Armies will fall before us like grass before a frost. We can spend a leisurely afternoon crushing every warship in Europa. Or if you want to play the subtle game, anyone who gets in your way can have an unexpected stroke. Just reach out with your magic and…” It mimed gently pinching an artery. It leaned in, its lips nearly brushing Elsa’s ear. “You know what to do. You can _feel_ how easy it is.”

Elsa took a step back, looking for the indignation she knew should be there. “I won’t do it. It’s not right. It’s… It’s not right.”

Reflection stamped its foot. “ _Why?_ Why do you fight so hard to be weak? You know I’m right. You know how logical it is. How clean. How elegant.”

“If no one can stop me, it is my responsibility to stop myself.” Elsa said, with the beginnings of conviction in her voice.

“WHY?” Reflection flailed its arms in exasperation. “Embrace who you are, _what_ you are. At your coronation, the first step to claiming what was yours, you held the orb and sceptre. The orb, symbol of the world. You held it in your hand. You can hold the world in your hand. A second coronation.”

“When I held it, it started frosting over. I started to frost it over.”

“So? The cold doesn’t bother _you_.”

“How can this not make you scared?”

“It was your heart that scared you. Always your heart, making you care about others, love others. Putting others needs ahead of your own? That’s madness.”

“That’s human.”

“Why be human when you can be a goddess?”

“I’m not a goddess.”

“You _can_ be a goddess. You **are** a goddess. We were a goddess before, we can be a goddess again. We are a goddess now.”

Elsa’s voice flattened. “That’s not true. That’s not right.”

Its voice deepened, was joined by a howl of wind, thundering through Elsa’s chest. “They called us Skadi, whose name means Harm, beautiful goddess of winter and the hunt, of ski and bow. They named these lands Skadinavia because they know the land is ours. They called us Marzanna, goddess of winter, death, and the underworld. To this day, every spring they drown us in effigy and every winter we return because they know we cannot be denied. Your scientists are just now discovering what they call the Ice Age.” It laughed. “Indeed. ‘The’ Ice Age, as if there had only been one of them. The world is ours. Yours. The orb lies in your palm. Close your hand on it.”

Elsa shook her head. “I’m Queen of Arendelle, not of the world.”

“Not yet,” said Reflection, its voice returning to its echo of Elsa’s.  “Think of the good you can do. You can make the world as beautiful and graceful as your ice castle.” It made a model in its palm and showed it to Elsa, turning it to catch the thin beam of light from the slit window high in the wall. “No war, no crime. No one will stand against you. I can help you with that. There is power, knowledge that you haven’t even dreamed of. You will never be afraid again. I can take care of you, the way I have all your life, but consciously now. You will never. Be afraid. Again.”

“What do you want from me?”

“I want what’s best for you. I want you to embrace your destiny.”

“And…” Elsa blinked her white eyes. “No fear.”

Her Reflection smiled. “No fear. No pangs of conscience. No pain of heartbreak. No doubts.”

“I see.”

“It is my duty to serve you and guard you and be loyal to you. And I’m here for you. In a way _they_ could never be.” It nodded at its captives.

“Would you die for her?” asked Anna.

“Would you?” echoed Ingrid.

It glanced over its shoulder at them. “Of course not. I can’t very well do my duty if I’m dead, can I?” It turned to Elsa. “But it’s for the best. If worse comes to worst I can carry on your legacy. And you’ll never fear losing me.”

As Anna and Ingrid cried _No_ , Elsa walked to her Reflection and embraced it, one hand stroking its back and the other between its breasts.

“There you go,” said Reflection, gently holding her. “It’s going to be all right.” A blue-white glow sprang up between them. “Wait, what?” It leaned back, trying to escape her grip. “What are you doing? Are you trying to freeze my heart? You know I don’t have one.”

“I know.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“Ingrid was right. I’m not Elsa. But I know what she’d want. She would not stand for enslaving Anna or Ingrid. She would absolutely not stand for enslaving the world. And if only she hadn’t been so desperate for advice she would’ve seen that she could never trust a heartless monster like you. Winter is beautiful, but so is spring. People deserve them both.” Elsa’s grip tightened viselike, her Reflection’s torso between her hands. Slowly spreading from between them, the simulation of flesh and cloth was losing its softness, turning clear and hard. The creature born of ice was returning to ice.

“Stop it, Elsa. Honestly, didn’t you learn from Ingrid’s example? Do you think you can hurt me with _freezing?_ ”

“Yes, I do.” Elsa’s expression was as blank as her eyes. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be afraid.” The ice had spread from clavicle to navel. The air was dry and eye-stingingly cold. “Ingrid, Anna, brace yourselves.” Elsa glared for an instant at the spots on the wall where the chains were anchored. She couldn’t thaw the chains but she could shatter the stone they were tethered to. Freed, they ran to each other, holding each other for warmth and courage. “Get down,” said Elsa, and they crouched to the floor.

In an instant they were buried in the lightest, fluffiest snow. Anna began to get up, to see what was happening, but Ingrid wrapped herself around Anna with a grip like cables and held her down. “She knows what she’s doing.”

“What _is_ she doing?” asked Anna.

“...I don’t know,” said Ingrid.

“Don’t you understand?” said Reflection. “I’m not like Olaf, or Marshmallow, or those ridiculous ‘snowgies’. They were made _with_ your magic. I am made _of_ your magic.”

“I thought as much.”

It struggled, trying to get out of Elsa’s grasp, but now that its entire torso was solid it could only move awkwardly. “No. If you destroy me, you destroy your gift. Your magic is in me.  I _am_ your magic.”

Elsa bared her gritted teeth, stray wisps of hair beginning to float in the dry, staticky air. “Right. You’re _my_ magic.” With a crack and a blink, the frost covering her eyes fractured and fell away. Her blue eyes burned with icy fury.

“That’s not possible!” said the creature, irritation cutting through its fear. “Your heart is frozen, you shouldn’t be able to do that.”

“My heart. Anna and Ingrid are in my heart, and I'm in theirs. Their love saved me. Again. You couldn't completely freeze my heart unless you froze theirs too. And I will not let that happen.”

“By killing me? Can you honestly say you can kill a living being?”

“To protect the ones I love?” Elsa’s snarl tightened. “Try me.”

Reflection batted at her awkwardly as its shoulders turned rigid. “If you hurt me, you hurt yourself.”

“I've heard that before.”

“Wait a minute.”

“No.”

Reflection sighed. “There's something you have to know. About your mother.”

Elsa didn't let go, but the creeping ice stopped in place. “What do you have to say about _my_ mother?”

“She had two miscarriages before you were born. She was afraid of losing you too. So she was…approached. An offer was made.”

“Who approached her? What offer?”

“You weren't going to be stillborn. Worse. You would've been sickly, but lived. More than a month, less than a year. Long enough for them to fall in love with you, deeply, and watch you suffer and die.”

Elsa didn't lose her grip, but it weakened. “That would be…”

“Cruel? Torture?”

Elsa nodded.

She chuckled mirthlessly. “That's hearts for you. In exchange for being a vessel, you would live to make your parents proud. As long as you are host to this magic, the clock is stopped. Destroy me, if you think you can, and the timer resumes. More than a month, less than a year. Torture your lovers instead of your parents.”

Elsa stood quietly.

“Your mother drank. Every time you were horrified by your gift, every time you missed your sister, every time she lied to Anna about you, she blamed herself.”

Elsa’s voice was hollow. “Oh no,” was all she could say.

“And now you want to dishonour her sacrifice--and break your promise to your sister by the way--by letting yourself die? How could you do that?”

Elsa stood silent for a long, thoughtful moment.

“Like this.”

Blue-white light flared up as she redoubled her will, ice resuming its progress, temperature plummeting until every surface of the room was furred with frost. “You’re my reflection. You know what I know,” whispered Elsa through gritted teeth. “But you don't know what I feel. That's the thing about reflections. They get things backwards.”

“But your mother! Your sister! Your…Ingrid!”

“I love them all, and would hate to hurt them. And what would they hate more than to see a heartless shell take my place? Better a little time truly alive than years of living death.”

The ice had reached its toes and fingertips, and was closing in on its face. “But your magic! Your life! They're inside me! Don't you see? Your power is inside me!”

“ **Don't tell me where my power is!** ” With all her strength and fury Elsa ran forward, shoving--practically throwing--the ice statue against the stone wall. It shattered into a hundred pieces. Its head bounced and smashed into the floor, breaking into a thousand.

A blast of warmth filled the room. The snow which had insulated Anna and Ingrid dissolved like cotton candy on the tongue. The chains and manacles crumbled into slush. Elsa’s heels hit the floor with a soft thud as her shoes turned into puddles that soaked her stockings. And water melted off the ice mirror, turning its reflections into ripples.

“Are you all right? Are you both all right?” asked Elsa. For her own part, she felt different. Good, but different. Things looked rounder, softer. Anna still was beautiful as she recovered her bearings, and Ingrid still modestly pretty…even as she was methodically grinding the particles of the ice creature under her sturdy shoes.

“Never mind us, are you all right?” asked Anna, her voice full of amazement.

Ingrid looked up. Her eyes widened. “Are you well? Do you feel...well?”

“Yes, of course,” said Elsa. She felt a little light-headed, understandable given the emotional wringer she'd been through, but all she felt in the moment was relief that her loved ones were safe. “What is it?”

Anna came forward gently. She held up Elsa's braid. It was chestnut brown, with a hint of auburn. In a hushed voice she said, “You look like mama.”

 


End file.
